Effect of Vacuum Impregnation-Dehydration on the Mechanical Properties of Apples

Abstract

The effect of sucrose solution concentration and vacuum/atmospheric pressure periods on the mechanical properties of apples (Gala var.) was studied through a stress relaxation test. The empiric model proposed by Peleg was used to fit the curves and the parameters a (level of relaxation) and b (relaxation rate) were evaluated. The experimental results obtained in this study showed that vacuum impregnation conditions had a great influence on the final mechanical properties of the apples. The Peleg model fitted well the data from the stress relaxation curves and may be useful for assessing sample deformation resulting from the vacuum impregnation process.

Keywords:

• Apples
• Relaxation
• Stress
• Sucrose
• Vacuum impregnation

Notes

sd = Standard deviation.