New Estimation Methods of Young's Modulus and Rupture Strength of Snack Foods Based on Microstructure

This paper describes quantitative methods for measuring substantial values of rupture strength and Young's modulus considering the inner, crispy snack food structure at the microscale. The samples used are crispy snack food. A conventional mechanical food test was conducted on a large sample size (>100 mm³), and only the apparent, macroscopic mechanical property of the food was measured without considering the microscopic structure. The proposed method integrates a small load compression test and finite element analysis for a test piece <10 mm³. Structural deformability of the test piece is calculated using finite element analysis. The estimated rupture strength of commercially available snack food ranged between 95 and 560 MPa. The calculated Young's moduli were in the range of 170-1,100 MPa. These values are 18-170 times larger than the apparent Young's moduli measured with the conventional method. This paper discusses the reasons for these findings.