## 1 Introduction  
Aluminium and aluminium alloys, as foils or sheets, are increasingly used in several fields. The main markets where aluminium laminates are used are rigid, semi-rigid and flexible packaging (Figure 1), heating, automotive, construction, aeronautics, pharmaceutical sector, etc. For instance, household foils, rigid and semi-rigid food containers, bottle caps, packs for pills, car bodies, doors and roofs of some cars, cooling fins of air conditioners, aircraft fuselages and their floorings, etc., are made of aluminium. In 2021, global aluminium consumption reached approximately 64.2 million tons. The market for flat-rolled aluminium products exceeded 28.1 million tons in the same year. In particular, the foil-stock and packaging sectors constitute 9% and 8%, respectively, of the total aluminium market. It is expected that the annual growth rate in this sector will be 2.6%. It has been estimated that 40% of the total world-aluminium-production is in the form of rolled products. Due to the large quantity of material utilised, the waste production of the industrial processes employed to treat/modify the Al-alloy items' surface, is heavy. At the same time, to reduce the environmental impact, companies are also interested in reducing the amount of natural resources consumed in their processes, ensuring the quality of the marketed products. It is known that primary aluminium production is energy-intensive: 1 kg of primary aluminium production needs 15 kWh, while 0.75 kWh is needed to produce secondary aluminium. Thus, the companies use waste aluminium from their production and, when possible, materials from waste sorting. In addition, the need to decrease production costs has pushed the aluminium industry toward reducing sheet thickness when possible. For this reason, the aluminium alloy must have specific chemical/physical characteristics; in particular, it must be able to undergo large plastic deformations without presenting surface defects or breaks in the film. One of the most used aluminium series to make laminates is the 8000 one. It belongs to the \"strain-hardenable\" type, which includes alloys containing several types of alloying elements. In particular, in this experimental campaign, the AA8079 alloy was used, in which the chemical composition is characterised by the presence of Fe and Si [1; 2], even if, sometimes, lithium is indicated as the characterising element [3]. Relatively high iron-levels in the alloy determine combinations of strength and ductility. These properties are due to the fine grain-size stabilised by the finely dispersed iron-rich second phase. The alloying elements improving the mechanical properties (i.e., ductility) allow the obtaining of extremely thin films (up to 10 \(\upmu\)m thick) without showing any defect such as streaks on the film surface or tears in the laminated material. Unfortunately, some alloying elements, such as Fe and Cu, reduce the material corrosion-resistance. From an electrochemical point of view, they are nobler than Al, therefore promoting the formation of local corrosion cells by galvanic coupling between the cathodic intermetallic particles formed between the Al and the alloying elements and the anodic aluminium matrix. Corrosion develops at the grain boundary where intermetallic particles are segregated, leading to various types of corrosion [4]. Several surface treatments (anodisation, conversion coating, painting) are used to increase the item's service life. The degradation rate of the material is even faster when in contact with acidic and/or chloride-containing environments. These conditions are frequently found when the aluminium items are used as food containers or heat-exchanger fins. In addition, special attention must be paid when the products come into contact with food, to avoid their contamination with substances harmful to health. Structural alloys, such as AA2024 and AA7075, are probably the most studied aluminium alloys [5; 6; 7].