3 ms·
>Alternatively, though, it might be possible to stiffen the foil by making the equivalent of corrugated cardboard out of it, maybe using aqueous boric acid (US$
by 1970-01-01 4mo ago
>Alternatively, though, it might be possible to stiffen the foil by making the equivalent of corrugated cardboard out of it, maybe using aqueous boric acid (US$1.70/kg according to Potential local sources and prices of refractory materials) or borax as the glue. The surface tension of water is ample to hold aluminum foil in place until the water dries.
Hello Amazon? Billion dollar idea here. This needs more attention. You could have fully recyclable aluminum boxes instead of cardboard. Imagine your box supply chain literally being a circle.
- jstanley 4mo agoI don't know about corrugated aluminium, but aluminium honeycomb is definitely a thing: https://www.easycomposites.co.uk/aluminium-honeycomb https://www.easycomposites.co.uk/aluminium-honeycomb
- InitialLastName 4mo agoThat would be hell on everybody's box-cutters (and fingers). I already cut myself too often on shipping boxes.
- kragen 4mo agoI wasn't suggesting using it for shipping boxes, but rather for things like robot arms.
- bluGill 4mo agoaluminum foil is generally not something you can recycle. Not that it can't be recyled, but the oxide to pure aluminum ratio is high and so you don't gain much since you need all the energy of refining in the first place to get back to something usable. Amazon needs stronger boxes than foil anyway. Cardboard is likely best for them.
- cperciva 4mo agothe oxide to pure aluminum ratio is high For some definition of high? Standard foil is around 20 um thick while the oxide layer only goes about 10 nm deep.
- Crunchified 4mo agoIs the very thin paper used in constructing corrugated cardboard that strong compared to aluminum foil? I don't have the answer to that, but it does tell us that very thin, relatively weak materials can be used to construct much stronger things, and we shouldn't casually compare the underlying materials with the finished product.
- hilariously 4mo agoCardboard is very recyclable already.
- 1970-01-01 4mo ago75% of it, aluminum can get to 99% https://www.afandpa.org/news/2024/how-much-paper-was-recycled-2023 https://www.afandpa.org/news/2024/how-much-paper-was-recycle...
- IAmBroom 4mo agoSolid aluminum, not foil. Foil is terribly wasteful, due to oxidation (existing and created by the melting process).