Predicting thickness perception of liquid food products from their non-Newtonian rheology

The “mouthfeel” of food products is a key factor in our perception of food quality and in our appreciation of food products. Extensive research has been performed on what determines mouthfeel, and how it can be linked to laboratory measurements and eventually predicted. This was mainly done on the basis of simple models that do not accurately take the rheology of the food products into account. Here, we show that the subjectively perceived “thickness” of liquid foods, or the force needed to make the sample flow or deform in the mouth, can be directly related to their non-Newtonian rheology. Measuring the shear-thinning rheology and modeling the squeeze flow between the tongue and the palate in the oral cavity allows to predict how a panel perceives soup “thickness”. This is done for various liquid bouillons with viscosities ranging from that of water to low-viscous soups and for high-viscous xanthan gum solutions. Our findings show that our tongues, just like our eyes and ears, are logarithmic measuring instruments in agreement with the Weber-Fechner law that predicts a logarithmic relation between stimulus amplitude and perceived strength. Our results pave the way for more accurate prediction of mouthfeel characteristics of liquid food products.

A Study on Through-the-Thickness Heating in Continuous Ultrasonic Welding of Thermoplastic Composites

Continuous ultrasonic welding is a promising technique for joining thermoplastic composites structures together. The aim of this study was to gain further insight into what causes higher through-the-thickness heating in continuous ultrasonic welding of thermoplastic composites as compared to the static process. Thermocouples were used to measure temperature evolutions at the welding interface and within the adherends. To understand the mechanisms causing the observed temperature behaviours, the results were compared to temperature measurements from an equivalent static welding process and to the predictions from a simplified heat transfer model. Despite the significantly higher temperatures measured at the welding interface for the continuous process, viscoelastic bulk heat generation and not thermal conduction from the interface was identified as the main cause of higher through-the-thickness heating in the top adherend. Interestingly the top adherend seemed to absorb most of the vibrational energy in the continuous process as opposed to a more balanced energy share between the top and bottom adherend in the static process. Finally, the higher temperatures at the welding interface in continuous ultrasonic welding were attributed to pre-heating of the energy director due to the vibrations being transmitted downstream of the sonotrode, to reduced squeeze-flow of energy director due to the larger adherend size, and to heat flux originating downstream as the welding process continues.

Evaluation of rheological properties of mortar with TiO2 addition

Adding TiO2 tocoating mortars is carried out to promote self-cleaning through photocatalytic activity. However, this addition influences the workability of the mortar and, consequently, the application stage as the TiO2 used can present a large number of fine particles and a high surface area, increasing the demand for mixing water, requiring consistency adjustments before coating. In this work, three mortars (two with the addition of different types of TiO2 and one reference) were developed on a laboratory scale to maintain similar workability, using the flow table test. The amount of kneading water was changed to maintain a spread of 220 ± 10 mm and the content of air-entrained was kept constant, around 25%. The mortars were evaluated using the squeeze flow method. Then, a blind test was performed to assess the mason sensitivity during handling and application of the coating, and all mortars were considered similar. However, the yield of the compositions with TiO2 addition was lower compared to the reference composition, making it possible to explain the results based on the physical parameters of the formulations and with a more in-depth analysis of the rheological indices obtained by the squeeze flow test.

Dufour and Soret Effect on Viscous Fluid Flow between Squeezing Plates under the Influence of Variable Magnetic Field

The aim of this article is to investigate the effect of mass and heat transfer on unsteady squeeze flow of viscous fluid under the influence of variable magnetic field. The flow is observed in a rotating channel. The unsteady equations of mass and momentum conservation are coupled with the variable magnetic field and energy equations. By using some appropriate similarity transformations, the partial differential equations obtained are then converted into a system of ordinary differential equations and are solved by Homotopy Analysis Method (HAM). The influence of the natural parameters are investigated for the velocity field components, magnetic field components, heat and mass transfer. A direct effect of the squeeze Reynold number is observed on both concentration and temperature. Moreover, increasing the magnetic Reynold number shows an increase in the fluid temperature, but in the case of concentration, an inverse relation is observed. Furthermore, a decreasing effect of the Dufour number is observed on both concentration and temperature distribution. Besides, in case of the Soret number, a direct effect is observed on concentration, but an inverse effect can be seen on temperature distribution. Different effects are shown through graphs in this study and an error analysis is also presented through tables and graphs.

Slip Effects on MHD Squeezing Flow of Jeffrey Nanofluid in Horizontal Channel with Chemical Reaction

The heat and mass transfer characteristics on hydromagnetic squeeze flow of Jeffrey nanofluid between two plates over a permeable medium by slip condition with the influences of viscous dissipation and chemical reaction is examined. Buongiorno’s nanofluid model, which includes Brownian motion and thermophoresis impacts, is implemented in this research. The governing nonlinear partial differential equations are transformed to the nonlinear ordinary differential equations via asimilarity transformation. The transformed equations are solved by employing numerical techniques of Keller-box. A comparison of the skin friction coefficient, Nusselt and Sherwood numbers with reported outputs in the journals are carried out to validate the present outputs. An excellent agreement is found. The results show that the squeezing of plates accelerates the velocity and wall shear stress. Furthermore, the velocity, temperature and concentration profile decrease when the Hartmann number and ratio of relaxation and retardation times increases. The raise in thermophoresis and viscous dissipation elevate the temperature profile and the heat transfer rate. Furthermore, the mass transfer rate declines due to the strong Brownian motion in the nanofluid, whereas it increases with the addition of chemical reaction and thermophoresis.

Rheological and the Fresh State Properties of Alkali-Activated Mortars by Blast Furnace Slag

The fresh and rheological properties of alkali mortars activated by blast furnace slag (BFS) were investigated. Consistency tests, squeeze flow, dropping ball, mass density in the hardened state, incorporated air, and water retention were performed. Mortars were produced with the ratio 1:2:0.45 (binder:sand:water), using not only ordinary Portland cement for control but also BFS, varying the sodium content of the activated alkali mortars from 2.5 to 15%. The results obtained permitted understanding that mortars containing 2.5 to 7.5% sodium present a rheological behavior similar to cementitious mortars by the Bingham model. In turn, the activated alkali mortars containing 10 to 15% sodium showed a very significant change in the properties of dynamic viscosity, which is associated with a change in the type of model, starting to behave similar to the Herschel–Bulkley model. Evaluating the properties of incorporated air and water retention, it appears that mortars containing 12.5% and 15% sodium do not have compatible properties, which is related to the occupation of sodium ions in the interstices of the material. Thus, it is concluded that the techniques used were consistent in the rheological characterization of activated alkali mortars.