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Preparation of aluminum thin films and laminates

  • W. Preuner

    Wolfgang Preuner is an R&D engineer at Constantia Teich, specializing in microstructure analysis. His expertise lies in the metallographic preparation and microscopic characterization of aluminum alloys. He studied technical chemistry at JKU Linz and materials science at TU Vienna.

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    , M. Hofinger and M. Kornfeld
Published/Copyright: September 18, 2025
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Abstract

In the sector of flexible primary packaging for food and pharmaceutical aluminum films and film laminates are currently undergoing a transformation toward the use of a steadily increasing proportion of recycled material. Further development of the metallographic sample preparation of these composite materials is required to ensure that the often subtle changes in the material involved can be analyzed in a meaningful way. The conventional preparation technique using microtome sections is compared to an analysis of metallographic sections on the example of two laminate structures. This method is intended to replace microtome sections for layer thickness analyses and present a correlative approach in the field of material and structural analysis. Mechanical preparation allowed achieving sufficient sample qualities and visualizing the basic structure of the laminates under investigation. The two methods were furthermore correlated.

Kurzfassung

Aktuell erleben Aluminiumfolien und Folienlaminate im flexiblen Primärverpackungsbereich für Lebensmittel und pharmazeutische Verpackungen eine Transformation hin zum Einsatz von immer steigenden Recyclinganteilen. Um die damit einhergehenden, oft subtilen, Veränderungen im Material aussagekräftig analysieren zu können, bedarf es einer Weiterentwicklung der metallographischen Probenpräparation dieser Materialverbunde. Anhand von zwei Laminatstrukturen wird die konventionelle Präparationstechnik mittels Mikrotomschnitt einer Analyse eines metallographischen Schliffs gegenübergestellt. Diese Methode soll Mikrotomschnitte zur Schichtdickenanalyse ersetzen und einen korrelativen Ansatz in der Werkstoff- und Gefügeanalyse gewährleisten. Durch die maschinelle Präparation konnten ausreichende Probenqualitäten erreicht und die Grundstruktur der untersuchten Laminate dargestellt werden. Zudem wurden die beiden Methoden korrelativ miteinander verbunden.

About the author

W. Preuner

Wolfgang Preuner is an R&D engineer at Constantia Teich, specializing in microstructure analysis. His expertise lies in the metallographic preparation and microscopic characterization of aluminum alloys. He studied technical chemistry at JKU Linz and materials science at TU Vienna.

References / Literatur

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Received: 2025-05-28
Accepted: 2025-07-08
Published Online: 2025-09-18
Published in Print: 2025-09-25

© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston, Germany

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