What is the pharmaceutical grade packaging aluminum foil?

　　Aluminum alloys that are wrought (meant to be shaped by squishing, rolling, hammering, etc.) use a 4-digit code to indicate their composition. This code system is explained in the following link: Aluminum Alloys 101 . The wrought alloys are grouped into series by their first digit: 1000 series, 2000 series, 6000 series, etc.

　　The 8000 series doesn’t get a lot of press - notice it’s not mentioned in the link above. The 8000 series is generally similar to the 1000 series (high purity aluminum alloys), but optimized for thin sheets and foils.

　　Aluminum 8079 Alloy (UNS A98079) is mostly aluminum, with a bit of deliberately added iron and silicon. Like other 8000-series aluminum alloys, it is optimized for foils. 8079 seems to find more use in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, though I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s good for those foil blister packs of pills.