Measuring the mechanical stiffness of an eggshell using resonant frequency analysis

Abstract

1. A new method was introduced for the measurement of mechanical eggshell characteristics based on the analysis of the vibration response of a chicken egg excited with a non-destructive impact. Four major topics were examined. 2. The 3 dimensional vibration pattern of an intact chicken egg was described for the spherical vibration with the lowest resonant frequency. 3. The resonant frequency of this basic vibration mode and the total egg mass were used to calculate a dynamic stiffness value of the eggshell based on a mathematical mass-spring model. 4. A correlation analysis between this dynamic stiffness value and several common egg and eggshell variable was calculated. Pearson correlation coefficients between the dynamic stiffness and static stiffness, eggshell thickness at the equator, eggshell width and shape index were all significantly different from zero and were 0.71, 0.60, 0.43 and 0.51, respectively. 5. Graphical analysis of the static vs the dynamic eggshell stiffness indicated that eggs with thick shells (>360 mum) had a higher static stiffness value than the dynamic stiffness measurement, whereas the static stiffness of eggs with thin shells (>300 mum) was lower than the dynamic stiffness. 6. The new vibration test method is a promising alternative for evaluating mechanical eggshell properties because of its non-destructive nature and brief measuring time.