Aluminium foil is aluminium

Aluminium

Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....

 prepared in thin metal leaves

Metal leaf

Metal leaf, also called composition leaf or schlagmetal, is a thin foil used for decoration. Metal leaf can come in many different shades. Some metal leaf may look like gold leaf but not contain any real gold...

, with a thickness less than 0.2 millimetre, thinner gauges down to 6 micrometre are also commonly used. In the USA, foils are commonly gauged in mils. Standard household foil is typically 0.022 millimetre thick and heavy duty household foil is typically 0.033 millimetre.The foil

Foil (chemistry)

A foil is a very thin sheet of metal, usually made by hammering or rolling a piece of metal. Foils are most easily made with malleable metals, such as aluminium, copper, tin, and gold. Foils usually bend under their own weight and can be torn easily. The more malleable a metal, the thinner foil can...

 is pliable, and can be readily bent or wrapped around objects. Thin foils are fragile and are sometimes laminate

Laminate

A laminate is a material that can be constructed by uniting two or more layers of material together. The process of creating a laminate is lamination, which in common parlance refers to the placing of something between layers of plastic and gluing them with heat and/or pressure, usually with an...

d to other materials such as plastic

Plastic

A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...

s or paper

Paper

Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....

 to make them more useful.