MODULE I

INTRODUCTION TO ENGINEERING
PROPERTIES OF AB MATERIALS

Lesson 1 Introduction

Lesson 2 Properties of AB Materials,

Importance and Significance

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MODULE I

INTRODUCTION TO ENGINEERING PROPERTIES

OF AB MATERIALS

 INTRODUCTION

This module deals with the introductory part of the engineering

properties of AB materials. As an ABE student, it is expected that you will
identify and explain the importance of studying the engineering properties
of AB materials.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After studying the module, you should be able to:

1. enumerate the different properties of AB materials; and

2. explain the importance and significance of each of the
different properties of AB materials.

 DIRECTIONS/ MODULE ORGANIZER

There are two lessons in the module. Read and analyze each lesson

 carefully then answer the activities/ exercises. Work on these activities

carefully and submit your output to your subject instructor on or before the
set deadlines.

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Lesson 1

 INTRODUCTION

Agricultural and biological materials especially that are consumed as

food or feed undergo various unit operations right from the pre-harvest to
post harvest processing, primary, secondary and tertiary processing,
formulation, preservation, packaging, storage distribution, retailing,
domestic storage and finally consumption. Scientists and engineers need to
know and understand the characteristics of the material to be processed,
preserved and consumed to solve the problems while designing and selecting
the means and modes of preservation, packaging, processing, storage,
marketing, and consumption. Each of these unit operations has unique
characteristics and need special tools and equipments. Designing and
selecting such tools and equipments require information regarding various
properties.
The engineering selection and design of agricultural and biological
materials or products processes and equipment requires knowledge of the
properties of the materials or products. These properties are of great
importance in the simulation and design of product processes and in the
computer-aided process engineering. Their influence is even greater in
problems of conceptual design, in which a wrong estimation of a property
can lead to an infeasible design plan. Not only the knowledge of properties
aids in engineering design and control but also gives information about the
product quality, its acceptability by the consumer of different groups and its
behavior post production, during storage, during consumption and post
consumption.
Further, engineering properties are the properties which are useful
and necessary in the design and operation of equipment employed in the
field of agricultural processing. They are also useful for design and
development of other farm machinery. As mentioned earlier unit operations
such as cleaning, grading, drying, dehydration, storage, milling, handling
and transportation, thermal processing of foods are among the important
operations in agricultural processing. In these operations while handling of
grains and other commodities the properties which play and important role
are physical, mechanical, frictional, rheological, aero and hydrodynamic,
electrical and optical properties of the agricultural and bio materials. Basic
information on these properties are of great importance and help for the
engineers, food scientists and processors towards efficient process and
equipment development. An attempt has been made to describe some of
the engineering properties usually encountered in post-production handling
of agricultural crops.

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THINK!

1. How are the engineering properties of AB materials

related to food processing or AB processing?

2. What do you think will happen if the engineering

properties of AB materials will not be considered during
food processing or during processing of AB materials?

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Lesson 2

 PROPERTIES OF AB MATERIALS,
IMPORTANCE AND SIGNIFICANCE

Physical Properties
The knowledge of some important physical properties such as shape,
size, volume, surface area, thousand grain weights, density, and porosity of
different grains is necessary for the design of various separating, handling,
storing and drying systems. The function of many types of machines is
influenced decisively by the size and shape of the fruit participating. The
size and shape are, for instance, important in their electrostatic separation
from undesirable materials and in the development of sizing and grading
machinery. Bulk density, true density, and porosity (the ratio of
intergranular space to the total space occupied by the grain) can be useful
in sizing grain hoppers and storage facilities; they can also affect the rate of
heat and mass transfer of moisture during aeration and drying processes;
Density is used to separate materials with different densities or specific
gravities. Separation of properly matured peas can be separated from the
immature and infected ones by water flotation methods. Grain bed with low
porosity will have greater resistance to water vapor escape during the
drying process, which may lead to higher power to drive the aeration fans.
Cereal grain densities have been of interest in breakage susceptibility and
hardness studies. For instance, bulk density values for raw and parboiled
paddy have practical applications in the calculation of thermal properties in
heat transfer problems, in determining Reynolds number in the pneumatic
handling of the material, and in separating the product from undesirable
materials. It plays an important role in other applications that include the
design of silos and storage bins and the maturity and quality of paddy, which
are essential to grain marketing. The resistance of bulk grain to airflow is in
part a function of the porosity and the kernel size.
Likewise, the physical properties (such as size, shape, surface area,
volume, density, porosity, color and appearance) are important in designing
particular equipment or determining the behavior of the product for its
handling. Various types of cleaning, grading and separation equipment are
designed on the basis of physical properties of seeds such as size, shape,
specific gravity, surface roughness, color etc. For designing an air screen
grain cleaner, the shape and size of the grain determine the shape and size
of screen openings, angle of inclination and vibration amplitude and
frequency of screens. The density of the grains decides the size of screening
surface. The frontal area and related diameters and density are essential for
determination of terminal velocity of the grain. Terminal velocity is

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necessary to decide about the winnowing velocity of air blast for separation
of lighter materials in air screen grain cleaners.
The shape of product is an important parameter which affects
conveying characteristics of solid materials by air or water. The shape is
also considered in calculation of various cooling and heating loads of food
materials.
The density and specific gravity are needed for calculating the
thermal diffusivity in heat transfer operations, in determining Reynold’s
number, in pneumatic and hydraulic handling of the agricultural materials.
The surface characteristics, color and appearance are exploited for
selective separation and storage of fruits and vegetables.

Aero and Hydro-Dynamic Properties

The aerodynamic properties and hydrodynamic properties like
terminal velocity and drag coefficient of agricultural products are important
and required in designing of air/ hydro conveying systems and the
separation equipment. The physical properties, such as density, shape, size,
etc., are required for calculating the terminal velocity and drag coefficient
of the agricultural produce. In the handling and processing of agricultural
products, air is often used as a carrier for transport or for separating the
desirable products from unwanted materials, therefore the aerodynamic
properties, such as terminal velocity and drag coefficient, are needed for
air conveying and pneumatic separation of materials. As the air velocity,
greater than terminal velocity, lifts the particles to allow greater fall of a
particle, the air velocity could be adjusted to a point just below the
terminal velocity. The fluidization velocity for granular material and settling
velocity are also calculated for the body immersed in viscous fluid.

Electric and Dielectric Properties

Some electrical properties which are of importance in agro processing
are electrical conductance, resistance, impedance. Electrical conductance
or capacitance has been used for determining the moisture content of grain.
Electrostatic separation of grains is also used for separating grains, based on
the ability of the grain to hold electrostatic charge. Electrical conductivity
of the grain decides the ability of the material to hold electrostatic charge.
Recently ohmic heating has been in use for drying, pasteurization, blanching
and other thermal processing of foods, based on resistance heating. Ohmic
processing, sometimes described as resistive heating, consists of passing
mains alternating current directly through a conductive food, which in turn
leads to heat generation. Because heating accompanies the current; heat
distribution throughout the product is far more rapid and even, which in
turn can result in better flavor retention and particulate integrity compared

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to conventional processes. The efficiency of ohmic heating is dependent on

the conductive nature of the food to be processed and hence knowledge of
the conductivity of the food as a whole and its components is essential in
designing a successful heating process.
Dielectric properties play a major role in determining the interaction
between the food material being processed and the electromagnetic energy.
The degree of heating of a food material subjected to microwave or radio
frequency processing is strongly influenced by the dielectric properties of
the food. Dielectric heating or volumetric heating occurs due to polarization
and ionization of molecules, which are effectively used in drying,
sterilization, pasteurization and other thermal processing operations.
Dielectric properties consist of dielectric constant (ε′) and dielectric loss
factor (ε″). Dielectric constant is a measure of the ability of a material to
store electromagnetic energy whereas dielectric loss factor is a measure of
the ability of a material to convert electromagnetic energy to heat. Loss
tangent (tan δ), a parameter used to describe how well a product absorbs
microwave energy, is the ratio of ε″ to ε′. A product with a higher loss
tangent will heat faster under microwave field as compared to a product
with a lower loss tangent.
Thus, electric and dielectric properties can be useful in designing and
controlling thermal processing and moisture content determination.

Mechanical Properties
Mechanical properties may be defined as those which affect the
behavior of the agricultural material under the applied force. The
mechanical properties such as hardness, compressive strength, impact and
shear resistance and the rheological properties affect the various operations
of agricultural processing. Data on these properties are useful for
application in designing equipment for milling, handling, storage,
transportation, food processing and other agricultural operations.

The mechanical damage to grain and seed in threshing and handling

operations causes reduction in germination power and viability of seeds,
increases the chances of insect and pest infestation and also affect the
quality of final product. The hardness of the grain affects the milling
characteristics and it is also useful to livestock feeders and plant breeders.

The impact and shear resistance are important for size reduction of
food grains. This information is useful in determination of the appropriate
methods of crushing, breaking or grinding the grains. These properties also
play important roles towards seed resistance to cracking under harvesting
and threshing conditions.

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Rheological Properties
Same as with the mechanical properties, knowledge of the
rheological properties of various food systems is important in the design of
flow processes for quality control, in predicting storage and stability
measurements, and in understanding and designing texture. The rheological
behavior under limited deformation has been widely used to obtain
information on the structure and viscoelasticity of materials. An
understanding of flow behavior is necessary to determine the size of the
pump and pipe and the energy requirements. The rheological models
obtained from the experimental measurements can be useful in design of
food engineering processes if used together with momentum, energy, and
mass balances. Effects of processing on rheological properties must be
known for process control.

The rheological properties may be defined as the science which deals

with the deformation and flow of the material under action of the applied
forces. Time is an important parameter during application of load to the
body. Therefore, in rheology three important parameters such as force,
deformation and time are used for expressing the mechanical behavior of
the material.

Moreover, the knowledge of rheological properties is useful in

designing mechanical handling systems of agricultural product where
deformation and flow of the material occur. In liquid foods, the knowledge
of rheological properties is essential for the proper design and operation of
various machines and also for understanding the pertinent transport
processes in the operations. Some of the foods like milk, syrups, filtered
dilute juices and vegetable oils are Newtonian fluids. For such foods, the
knowledge of viscosity function and its dependence upon temperature and
concentration is sufficient for engineering design. Also, rheological
properties give information how the product will behave in different
systems and how consumer is going to be affected. It is useful in designing
new product and product constituent, its stability and storability at
different conditions. Since, the viscosity of material is affected by
temperature and most importantly the constituent of material; it has direct
implication on the acceptability, storability and quality of the product.

Acoustic Properties
Acoustic properties of agricultural and biological materials describe
how the biological cell reacts to sound waves, which carry enough energy
through photons and capable of bringing change in the product. Acoustic
properties are long been used in medical diagnosis; its’ use in food
processing and in detecting the imperfections in agro commodities is gaining
momentum. Moreover, the effect of high intensity sound waves on living cell
also are being explored and effectively used in homogenizing liquid sample,
extraction of plant materials and as pretreatment for drying and
dehydration process. Ultrasound is the sound that is above the threshold of

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the human ear (above 18 kHz). Ultrasound is generated with either

piezoelectric or magnetostrictive transducers that create high-energy
vibrations. These vibrations are amplified and transferred to a sonotrode or
probe, which is in direct contact with the fluid. Some known applications of
high power ultrasound in agro- processing include the following: extraction
(release of plant material), emulsification, homogenization, crystallization
(formation of smaller ice crystals in freezing), filtration, separation,
viscosity alteration, defoaming, a pretreatment for drying and extrusion.
Ultrasound inactivates enzymes and bacteria by breaking the cell
membranes due to the violence of cavitation and due to the formation of
free radicals and hence used for pasteurization and blanching.

Thermal Properties
These properties are involved in almost every food processing
operation. Knowledge of the thermal properties of foods is essential in the
analysis and design of various food processes and food processing equipment
involved in heat transport, with respect to heat transfer or energy use, such
as in extrusion cooking, drying, sterilization, cooking, canning, retorting,
pasteurization, blanching, etc. The most important thermal properties in
food processing are specific heat capacity, thermal conductivity, thermal
diffusivity, enthalpy, surface heat transfer coefficient and emissivity. There
are some other thermal properties like melting or freezing points, latent
heats, heat of adsorption, heat of respiration, coefficient of thermal
expansion etc., but these are not of much importance for the most heat
transfer applications.
Specific heat has an important role in determination of energy cost
and for the dimensions of machinery and equipment that are needed in
thermal processes. Furthermore, specific heat of food materials changes
according to their physical and chemical properties. The thermal
conductivity of food determines how fast heat can be evenly transferred to
the entire food mass, which in turn affects the quality of the final product.
When heating and cooling of materials involves unsteady state or transient
heat conduction, the material temperature changes with time and
knowledge of the thermal diffusivity is required for predicting temperature
in these processes.

Chemical Properties
Knowledge on the approximate chemical compositions of AB materials
is useful for estimating densities and thermal properties. Similarity between
AB materials includes their components which they contain 5 main
components: water, protein, carbohydrates, lipid and ash. Chemical
compositions of AB materials not only influence nutritional value but also on
moisture adsorption and electromagnetic properties.

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Optical Properties
Light transmittance and reflectance properties of agricultural
commodities are used for sorting, grading, maturity, surface color and
blemish determination. The use of hyperspectral, multispectral, infrared
imaging and computer vision system have enabled even determination of
moisture and other chemical composition, contamination of agro
commodities to greater satisfaction of consumer and trader and reduced the
manual inspection, which might be subjected to error due to fatigue. These
systems offer the potential to automate manual grading practices and thus
to standardize techniques and eliminate tedious inspection tasks. The
automated inspection of produce using machine vision not only results in
labor savings, but also can improve inspection, objectivity.

Optical properties are used widely in deciding the quality of food thus
aiding in sorting, grading, contamination detection and food composition
determination.

Frictional Properties
The frictional properties such as coefficient of friction and angle of
repose are important in designing o storage bins, hoppers, chutes,
pneumatic conveying system, screw conveyors, forage harvesters, threshers
and others.
The rolling resistance or maximum angle of stability in rolling of
round shape agricultural materials is useful in designing handling equipment
such as conveying of fruits and vegetables by gravity flow.
In mechanical and pneumatic conveying systems, the material
generally moves or slides in direct with the trough, casing and other
components of the machine. Thus various parameters affect the power
requirement to drive the machine. Among these parameters, the frictional
losses are one of the factors which must be overcome by providing
additional power to the machine. Hence, the knowledge of frictional
properties of the agricultural materials is necessary; therefore, some of the
important frictional properties of agricultural products have been
enumerated and defined below.
Static friction: The friction may be defined as the frictional forces
acting between surfaces of contact at rest with respect to each other.
Kinetic friction: It may be defined as the friction forces existing
between the surfaces in relative motion. If F is the force of friction and W is
the force normal to the surface of contact, then the coefficient of friction
‘f’ is given by the relationship:
F
f=
W

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The coefficient of friction may also be given as the tangent of the

angle of the inclined surface upon which the friction force tangential to the
surface and the component of the weight normal to the surfaces are acting.
Angle of repose: The angle of repose is the angle between the base
and the slope of the cone formed on a free vertical fall of the granular
material to a horizontal plane. The size, shape, moisture content and
orientation of the grains affect the angle of repose. There are two angles of
repose namely: 1) static angle of repose, and 2) dynamic angle of repose.
Static angle of repose is the angle of friction when a granular material just
slide upon itself while dynamic angle of repose comes in picture when bulk
of the grain is in motion like discharge of grain from bins and hoppers. The
dynamic angle of repose is more important than static angle.
Angle of internal friction: The value of angle of internal friction is
equal to the tangent of the coefficient of friction for the material. The
angle of internal friction is an important property which helps to estimate
the lateral pressure in storage silos. Angle of internal friction values are also
used in designing of storage bins and hopper for gravity discharge. The
coefficient of friction between grains is required as a design parameter for
design of shallow and deep bins.

THINK!

Explain and differentiate the different properties of AB

materials.

 LEARNING ACTIVITY

Is it important/not important to study the different

engineering properties of AB materials? Why or Why not?

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 MODULE SUMMARY

In module I, you have learned about the introductory part of the

engineering properties of AB materials. You have learned the different
properties, their meanings, importance and significance.

There are two lessons in module I. Lesson 1 focused on the

introduction while lesson 2 deals with the different properties of AB
materials, their importance and significance.

Congratulations! You have just studied Module I. Hoped that you are
ready to answer activities under the summative test after reading and
studying some solved problems. Good Luck!!!

 SUMMATIVE TEST

1. Give a situation or instances or characteristics of AB materials,

then enumerate what property best described that
situation/characteristics. Like for example, the elongated shape
of a tomato. Since the word elongated can be describe by merely
looking at the product, therefore, it is best described by the
physical characteristic or property. Enumerate as many as you can
and if possible make sure to give answer for each property. Also,
please follow the given table below:

Situation/Characteristics Engineering Properties

1. Elongated shape of a tomato Physical Property

2. Give any engineering practices related to AB processing then from

the mentioned or tackled engineering properties of AB materials,
what property or properties you think should be considered or give
more emphasis? Justify your answers.

Module I