Food Tray Aluminum Foil

Food tray applications rely on aluminum foil that can form deep draws, hold shape through heating, and protect taste and freshness. For bulk purchasing and converting, the right specification is less about a single buzzword and more about matching alloy, temper, gauge, and surface condition to tray geometry and your processing line.

What makes foil suitable for food trays

Aluminum foil for trays is selected to balance three practical needs: formability during stamping, strength in the finished rim and base, and barrier performance against moisture, oxygen, and aroma transfer. Aluminum is widely used in food contact packaging because it is non toxic in normal use and provides an effective barrier when the foil is intact.

For tray production, the most common performance checks include:

• Forming behavior: stable draw without excessive wrinkling, tearing, or earing.

• Rim integrity: consistent curl and stiffness for sealing or lidding films.

• Heat tolerance: reliable in ovens and under reheating conditions typically used for ready meals.

• Surface cleanliness: low rolling oil residue to support coating, printing, or lacquering.

Many tray lines also require lacquered surfaces for specific foods, better release, or compatibility with heat sealing. Coatings must be food contact compliant under your destination market regulations, so it is important to confirm declarations of compliance and migration testing with your supplier.

Common alloys, tempers, and gauges for tray stock

Tray foil is typically produced from the 8xxx series or selected 3xxx series depending on the required forming and strength. In practice, tray makers often choose 8006, 8011, or 8021, with tempers tailored to the forming depth and tray design.

When you are specifying, focus on these levers:

• Alloy choice affects strength and drawability.

• Temper affects hardness and forming window.

• Gauge affects rigidity, dent resistance, and cost per tray.

If your trays are deep drawn or you see cracking at corners, you may need a softer temper, tighter surface control, or a different alloy. For high speed production, consistent mechanical properties across the coil length can reduce downtime and scrap.

Typical specification ranges (indicative)

For container manufacturing, a widely used starting point is 8006 Aluminium Foil for Container, often chosen for its strength and forming balance in many tray shapes.

How to choose for your tray type and process

Different tray formats place different demands on the foil. Use the tray geometry and your downstream process to narrow the specification.

Baking and roasting trays

These formats benefit from higher rigidity to hold shape under load. If the tray must resist bending when handled, consider a slightly higher gauge and a temper that provides rim stiffness. If the tray is used with acidic or salty foods, lacquer is often specified to reduce interaction and staining.

Ready meal trays with lidding and sealing

If you run heat sealing or need peelable lids, the rim quality and surface condition become critical. A stable curl and consistent rim thickness help maintain seal integrity. Many converters select 8011 for general food packaging due to its common use and good processing behavior. For packaging focused applications, 8011 Aluminum Foil Food for Packaging is frequently used where surface cleanliness and printability are priorities.

Airline, takeaway, and multi cavity trays

These designs often have thin ribs and sharper corners. Forming stability matters more than absolute stiffness. If tearing appears at corners, review:

• Grain direction relative to die design.

• Lubrication and tool wear.

• Coil to coil consistency of mechanical properties.

• Whether a softer temper would widen the forming window.

Quality and compliance checkpoints to request from a supplier

For bulk supply, the most useful documents and tests are the ones that correlate directly with your production yield and customer claims.

Packaging operations often benefit from trial coils to validate forming and sealing on the actual press and tooling. A small change in gauge tolerance or surface oil can materially change scrap rates on high speed lines.

Practical notes on storage and handling

Even high quality foil can lose performance if it is stored incorrectly. Keep coils wrapped until use, avoid high humidity and large temperature swings, and protect edges from impact to reduce telescoping and edge damage. If you laminate or lacquer, store per coating supplier guidance to avoid blocking or cure drift.

By aligning tray design with alloy and temper selection, and by qualifying surface and cleanliness controls, you can improve forming stability, reduce leaks and corner splits, and deliver consistent tray appearance across production batches.