Volume 14
Issue 1
Food Science and Technology
JOURNAL OF
POLISH
AGRICULTURAL
UNIVERSITIES
Available Online: http://www.ejpau.media.pl/volume14/issue1/abs-06.html
STUDY ON MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SUNFLOWER SEEDS
Sahebeh Jafari1, Javad Khazaei2, Akbar Arabhosseini1, Jafar Massah2, Mohammad Hadi Khoshtaghaza3
1 Department of Agrotechnology,
College of Abouraihan, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
2 Department of Mechanical Engineering of Biosystems, College of Aboureihan, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
3 Department of Agricultural Technical Engineering,
University of Tarbiat Modarres, Tehran, Iran
ABSTRACT
Some physical and mechanical properties of sunflower seeds were studied. The measured parameters were linear dimensions, thousand grain mass, geometric mean diameter, sphericity, surface and projected area, volume, shape parameters (such as flakiness ratio and elongation ratio), true and bulk densities, porosity, angle of repose and static coefficient of friction of the Shamshiri variety in the moisture range from 6.3 to 20% (w.b.) using standard methods. Average rupture force, deformation and absorbed energy at rupture point of the sunflower seeds under compression as well as the extent of physical damage to seeds due to impact were also determined over a range of moisture contents between 1.8% and 20.3% (w.b). The results showed a variation of 14.32 to 31.00 mm for length, 4.73 to 9.82 mm for width and 2.36 to 6.67 mm for thickness of sunflower seeds. The values of the thousand grain mass, seed volume, true density, bulk density and porosity of sunflower seeds were between149.81–167.77g, 99.05–628.9 mm3, 444.39–521.78 kg/m3, 269.06–275.57 kg/m3 and 39.09–47.18% respectively. The rupture force, deformation, and absorbed energy increased with increase in moisture content from 1.8 to 14.5%, while decreased with further increasing of moisture content from 14.5 to 20.3%. The mean value of percentage of physically damaged seeds increased from 2.75 to 10.81% with increasing the impact velocity from 40.8 to 62.3 m/s. In both impact orientations, the total damaged seeds increased with increase in impact velocity for all moisture contents of seeds.
Key words: physical properties, mechanical properties, sunflower seed.
Sahebeh Jafari
Department of Agrotechnology,
College of Abouraihan, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
email: sayeh1898@gmail.com
Javad Khazaei
Department of Mechanical Engineering of Biosystems, College of Aboureihan, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Telephone: 098 21 360 406 14
Cell phone: 0989123880128
email: jkhazaei@ut.ac.ir
Akbar Arabhosseini
Department of Agrotechnology,
College of Abouraihan, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Jafar Massah
Department of Mechanical Engineering of Biosystems, College of Aboureihan, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Telephone: 098 21 360 406 14
Cell phone: 0989198028454
email: jmassah@ut.ac.ir
Mohammad Hadi Khoshtaghaza
Department of Agricultural Technical Engineering,
University of Tarbiat Modarres, Tehran, Iran
Responses to this article, comments are invited and should be submitted within three months of the publication of the article. If accepted for publication, they will be published in the chapter headed 'Discussions' and hyperlinked to the article.