Behaviour of Japanese Quail Eggs Under Mechanical Compression

Abstract

In this study, the mechanical behaviour of Japanese quail eggs was determined in terms of average rupture force, deformation, and energy absorbed during fracture. Eggs were characterized by some physical and geometrical properties, such as mass, length, width, eggshell thickness, geometric mean diameter, surface area, sphericity, volume, and eggshell radii of curvature. Egg samples were compressed along the axis of their symmetry (X axis) and perpendicularly to this axis (Z axis). Four different compression rates were used: 0.0166, 0.166, 1.666, and 5 mm/s. The highest rupture force, deformation at the egg’s rupture, and energy absorbed up to the fracture were found when Japanese quail eggs were loaded along their X-axis. The rupture force increased with the compression (loading) rate. The rate sensitivity of the eggshell rupture force was close to that observed for the hen’s eggs.

Keywords:

• Quail egg
• Compression
• Rupture force
• Compression velocity
• Eggshell curvature