Preparation of Aluminum Foil by an Electrodeposition Method and Its Characterization

A novel method of manufacturing aluminum(Al)foil has been developed using electrodeposition in a sulfone-based organic electrolyte solution. The process produced excellent purity of Al higher than 99 wt% and reasonable thickness of greater than 8 μm. Moreover, the Al foil has good flexibility and high strength comparable to those of conventional Al foils produced using rolling methods. Results also show good mechanical strength at elevated temperatures. Characterization by XRD and SEM observation proved that the Al foil prepared using electrodeposition has specific orientation of the(111)crystal plane, which remained even after thermal treatment at temperatures as high as 300 ℃. These crystallographic characteristics are expected to be responsible for the good mechanical properties of this Al foil at elevated temperature, from which we can expect improved device performance in widely diverse applications.