The effect of the anodic current density, temperature and concentration of the oxalic acid on the volume expansion of porous alumina films formed from 1.8 mum thick aluminum films has been investigated. The volume expansion of the aluminum during oxidation was determined by the step height between the aluminum surface and the porous alumina surface at the edge of the anodized region. which was measured with a mechanical profiler with computer signal processing. Experiments showed, that the volume expansion factor as well as the cell dimensions is proportional to the anodizing voltage. The dependence of the volume expansion factor (k) on the anodizing voltage (U) has the linear nature. The volume expansion factor in the 4% solution of oxalic acid can be defined by the following equation: k = 1.092 + 0.007U. It was established, that the dependence of the logarithm of the ion current density on the inverse volume expansion factor of porous alumina has the linear nature. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.