Metal packaging: steel, aluminum, application
The difference becomes more interesting than just 'lighter/heavier,' and without understanding the material selection technology, it turns into a lottery — a can may bulge on the warehouse or impart a metallic taste to the product within a couple of months.
Steel vs aluminum: what to choose for a specific product
Steel is thin steel sheet with a coating, aluminum is a pure metal or alloy that does not require a corrosion-resistant layer to the same extent. The difference in density decides a lot: aluminum's density is around 2,7 g/cm³, steel's is around 7,85 g/cm³, meaning steel is almost three times heavier at the same volume. For beverage manufacturers, this is direct money saved in logistics: a ton of aluminum cans occupies the same volume as a ton of steel cans, but there are physically more of them, and transportation is easier.
Steel is produced in grades from 18 to 36 with sheet thickness from 0,14 to 0,36 mm per GOST P 52204-2004, which allows selecting material for load: thin steel for light lids, thick steel for vacuum-canned products that must withstand sterilization and transportation without deformation.
| Criterion | Steel | Aluminum |
|---|---|---|
| Density | ~7,85 g/cm³ | ~2,7 g/cm³ |
| Puncture resistance | High | Average |
| Resistance to internal pressure | Average | High |
| Typical application | Meat and fish conserved products, paints, chemistry | Beer, non-alcoholic beverages, energy drinks |
| Raw material cost | Lower | Higher |
| Transportation costs | Higher due to weight | Lower |
For marinated vegetables and fruit conserves the situation is separate — here the material behavior in acidic environment is more important, as described below.
Why jars are tin-coated and what is replacing it
Steel itself rusts, so tin is applied as a thin coating to the steel — it is inert to most food products and creates a barrier between the steel and the contents of the can. The thickness of the coating depends on the application method: for hot-dip tinning this is 0,34–2,5 micrometers, for electrolytic — 0,34–1,56 micrometers. The second method provides a more uniform and thinner layer, which explains its widespread use in modern production.
Tin is not the only option. For aggressive products and where economy is important in expensive metal, lacquer coatings based on epoxy and organotin compounds, as well as chromate-coated steel (ECCS) are used — they are cheaper than tin-plated and used where direct contact with acidic media can be avoided due to internal lacquering.
Metal migration: when this is really critical
Iron and tin ions are capable of migrating from the walls of the can into the product, and the rate of this process directly depends on the acidity of the contents. In an acidic environment — for example, in a marinade with lactic acid — migration occurs 2–4 times more intensively than in neutral conditions. That is why manufacturers of fruit and pickled canned goods use additional lacquer coating on the inner surface of the can, rather than relying solely on the tin layer.
For the consumer, this is not an abstract risk: a bulging can, a metallic taste, or darkening of the contents are direct signs that the protective layer has been breached or was initially insufficient for the specific product. When choosing packaging for a new product, the agency always checks with the client the pH of the contents—this determines the requirements for the inner lacquer well before the question of design.
Case: how to order a printed can from sheet to shelf
Let's take a real logic of ordering a batch of cans for a custom drink— the manufacturer wants a custom design on aluminum or tin packaging, not a label on top. The process looks like this:
- The customer approves the layout and sends the files to production— the minimum run for printing on tin is 1500 sheets; less than that is not accepted due to the setup of the printing lines.
- A metal sheet goes through surface preparation—cleaning and, if necessary, additional lacquering for a specific product type.
- Printing is done on lithographic lines with a performance of 3000–8000 sheets per hour — this determines the speed of the entire batch.
- The applied design is fixed with a fixer lacquer and undergoes thermal processing.
- The sheet is cut, formed into a cylinder, the seams are welded or bent, and the bottom is installed.
- The finished can undergoes a seal integrity test and is packaged for shipment to the client.
The entire cycle takes 7–10 days from the moment the layout is approved — this is a reasonable benchmark for planning product launch, and agencies that work with packaging usually build this timeframe into the branding calendar even at the design stage, not afterward.
Recycling: why metal is more advantageous than plastic
Aluminum cans are recycled with almost no loss of metal quality, and this is what makes secondary aluminum an economically attractive raw material — in Russia, approximately 300 thousand tons of this metal are recycled annually. In Europe, the aluminum can recycling rate in 2021 was 74%, and in Germany — 99% thanks to a deposit-based packaging system, where the buyer pays a deposit for the can and gets it back upon return.
Steel is more complicated to recycle: it contains a heterogeneous composition — steel, a tin layer, and a lacquer coating, so recycling requires a pyrolysis furnace with a temperature of around 750°C to burn out organic impurities before the steel can be remelted. This is more expensive than recycling pure aluminum, but still more cost-effective than burying the metal on a landfill.
In Russia, 2–3 billion metal cans are used annually—taking this volume into account, the issue of recycling ceases to be a topic for environmental reports and becomes part of the production economy: the higher the return rate of packaging in circulation, the lower the final cost of raw materials for the next batch of cans.
The difference becomes more interesting than just 'lighter/heavier,' and without understanding the material selection technology, it turns into a lottery — a can may bulge on the warehouse or impart a metallic taste to the product within a couple of months.
Steel vs aluminum: what to choose for a specific product
Steel is thin steel sheet with a coating, aluminum is a pure metal or alloy that does not require a corrosion-resistant layer to the same extent. The difference in density decides a lot: aluminum's density is around 2,7 g/cm³, steel's is around 7,85 g/cm³, meaning steel is almost three times heavier at the same volume. For beverage manufacturers, this is direct money saved in logistics: a ton of aluminum cans occupies the same volume as a ton of steel cans, but there are physically more of them, and transportation is easier.
Steel is produced in grades from 18 to 36 with sheet thickness from 0,14 to 0,36 mm per GOST P 52204-2004, which allows selecting material for load: thin steel for light lids, thick steel for vacuum-canned products that must withstand sterilization and transportation without deformation.
| Criterion | Steel | Aluminum |
|---|---|---|
| Density | ~7,85 g/cm³ | ~2,7 g/cm³ |
| Puncture resistance | High | Average |
| Resistance to internal pressure | Average | High |
| Typical application | Meat and fish conserved products, paints, chemistry | Beer, non-alcoholic beverages, energy drinks |
| Raw material cost | Lower | Higher |
| Transportation costs | Higher due to weight | Lower |
For marinated vegetables and fruit conserves the situation is separate — here the material behavior in acidic environment is more important, as described below.
Why jars are tin-coated and what is replacing it
Steel itself rusts, so tin is applied as a thin coating to the steel — it is inert to most food products and creates a barrier between the steel and the contents of the can. The thickness of the coating depends on the application method: for hot-dip tinning this is 0,34–2,5 micrometers, for electrolytic — 0,34–1,56 micrometers. The second method provides a more uniform and thinner layer, which explains its widespread use in modern production.
Tin is not the only option. For aggressive products and where economy is important in expensive metal, lacquer coatings based on epoxy and organotin compounds, as well as chromate-coated steel (ECCS) are used — they are cheaper than tin-plated and used where direct contact with acidic media can be avoided due to internal lacquering.
Metal migration: when this is really critical
Iron and tin ions are capable of migrating from the walls of the can into the product, and the rate of this process directly depends on the acidity of the contents. In an acidic environment — for example, in a marinade with lactic acid — migration occurs 2–4 times more intensively than in neutral conditions. That is why manufacturers of fruit and pickled canned goods use additional lacquer coating on the inner surface of the can, rather than relying solely on the tin layer.
For the consumer, this is not an abstract risk: a bulging can, a metallic taste, or darkening of the contents are direct signs that the protective layer has been breached or was initially insufficient for the specific product. When choosing packaging for a new product, the agency always checks with the client the pH of the contents—this determines the requirements for the inner lacquer well before the question of design.
Case: how to order a printed can from sheet to shelf
Let's take a real logic of ordering a batch of cans for a custom drink— the manufacturer wants a custom design on aluminum or tin packaging, not a label on top. The process looks like this:
- The customer approves the layout and sends the files to production— the minimum run for printing on tin is 1500 sheets; less than that is not accepted due to the setup of the printing lines.
- A metal sheet goes through surface preparation—cleaning and, if necessary, additional lacquering for a specific product type.
- Printing is done on lithographic lines with a performance of 3000–8000 sheets per hour — this determines the speed of the entire batch.
- The applied design is fixed with a fixer lacquer and undergoes thermal processing.
- The sheet is cut, formed into a cylinder, the seams are welded or bent, and the bottom is installed.
- The finished can undergoes a seal integrity test and is packaged for shipment to the client.
The entire cycle takes 7–10 days from the moment the layout is approved — this is a reasonable benchmark for planning product launch, and agencies that work with packaging usually build this timeframe into the branding calendar even at the design stage, not afterward.
Recycling: why metal is more advantageous than plastic
Aluminum cans are recycled with almost no loss of metal quality, and this is what makes secondary aluminum an economically attractive raw material — in Russia, approximately 300 thousand tons of this metal are recycled annually. In Europe, the aluminum can recycling rate in 2021 was 74%, and in Germany — 99% thanks to a deposit-based packaging system, where the buyer pays a deposit for the can and gets it back upon return.
Steel is more complicated to recycle: it contains a heterogeneous composition — steel, a tin layer, and a lacquer coating, so recycling requires a pyrolysis furnace with a temperature of around 750°C to burn out organic impurities before the steel can be remelted. This is more expensive than recycling pure aluminum, but still more cost-effective than burying the metal on a landfill.
In Russia, 2–3 billion metal cans are used annually—taking this volume into account, the issue of recycling ceases to be a topic for environmental reports and becomes part of the production economy: the higher the return rate of packaging in circulation, the lower the final cost of raw materials for the next batch of cans.
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