The Effect of Padding Foam on the Compression Characteristics of Some Agglomerated Food Powders

Abstract

Selected padding foam was used to reduce attrition in agglomerated food powders. This is a widely used strategy in fruits and vegetables during harvesting and processing to minimize impact damage. The objective of this research was to determine the padding effect on some agglomerated food powders when plastic foams of different thicknesses were added in the powder bed at different positions while conducting confined uniaxial compression tests. The padding effect was evaluated by two proposed indices: padding index and padding efficiency. The former index was based on the force-deformation behavior of the compression process, while the latter was based on weight comparisons of agglomerates retaining their original particle size with or without the use of padding foams. The padding thickness and positions significantly affect the force-deformation relationships for both agglomerates: instant coffee and instant milk. The padding effect, in terms of padding efficiency and padding index, was more obvious when the padding material was put at the top of the powder bed. The padding efficient index is more useful, in the cases under consideration, than the other index, because it should be more sensitive in depicting attrition.

Keywords

agglomerated food powders padding foam attrition compression

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adam M.J. , Mullier M.A. and Seville J.P.K. (1994). Agglomerate strength measurement using a uniaxial confined compression test. Powder Technology 78: 5–13.

Barbosa-Cánovas G.V. , Malavé-López J. and Peleg M. (1985). Segregation in food powders. Biotechnology Progress 1(2): 140–146.

Barletta B.J. and Barbosa-Cánovas G.V. (1993). An attrition index to assess fines formation and particle size reduction in tapped agglomerated powders. Powder Technology 77: 89–93.

Bemrose C.R. and Bridgwater J. (1987). A review of attrition and attrition test methods. Powder Technology 49: 97–126.

Bortzmeyer D. and Goimard J.C. (1991). Mechanical properties and attrition behavior of CaCO 3powders: influence of particle shape. Powder Technology 86: 161–169.

Chen M. and Malghan S.G. (1994). Investigation of compaction equations for powder. Powder Technology 81: 75–81.

Gundepudi M.K. , Sankar B.V. , Mecholsky Jr. J.J. and Clupper D.C. (1997). Stress analysis of brittle spheres under multiaxial loading. Powder Technology 94: 153–161.

Malavé-López J. and Peleg M. (1986). Mechanical attrition rate measurements in agglomerated instant coffee. Journal of Food Science 51(3): 687–697.

Nuebel C. and Peleg M. (1994). A research note: compressive stress-strain relationships of agglomerated instant coffee. Journal of Food Process Engineering 17: 383–400.

10.

Peleg M. (1977). Flowability of food powders and methods for its evaluation—A review. Journal of Food Process and Engineering 1: 303–328.

11.

Swyngedau S. , Nussinovitch A. and Peleg M. (1991a). Models for the compressibility of layered polymeric sponges. Polymer Engineering and Science 31(2): 140–144.

12.

Swyngedau S. , Nussinovitch A. , Roy I. , Peleg M. and Huang V. (1991b). Comparison of four models for the compressibility of breads and plastic foams. Journal of Food Science 56(3): 756–759.

13.

Thoma S.G. , Ciftcioglu M. and Smith D.M. . (1991). Determination of agglomerate strength distributions Part 2. Application to model agglomerates. Powder Technology 68: 63–69.

14.

Yan H. and Barbosa-Cánovas G.V. (1997). Compression characteristics of agglomerated food powders: Effect of agglomerate size and water activity. Food Science and Technology International 3(5): 351–359.