Behaviour of Japanese Quail Eggs Under Mechanical Compression

Figures & data

TABLE 1 Physical properties of Japanese quail egg (radii of curvature: R₁—sharp end, R₂—blunt end, R₃—equator; eggshell thickness: t₁—sharp end, t₂—blunt end, t₃—equator)

Property	Number of eggs	Unit of measurement	Mean	Min value	Max value	Standard deviation
Mass (m)	240	g	12.153	8.370	16.070	1.264
Length (L)	240	mm	33.236	28.720	38.020	1.586
Width (W)	240	mm	25.942	22.670	28.910	0.946
Shape index (SI)	240	%	78.149	68.195	86.039	3.044
Surface (S)	240	mm^2	2496.33	1956.47	2995.64	179.51
Volume (V)	240	mm^3	11,750.78	8137.36	14,532.81	1263.76
Diameter (Dg)	240	mm	28.170	24.955	30.879	1.017
Sphericity (Φ)	240	%	84.829	77.476	90.462	2.206
Eggshell thickness (t1)	240	mm	0.19	0.13	0.41	0.03
Eggshell thickness (t2)	240	mm	0.17	0.12	0.65	0.04
Eggshell thickness (t3)	240	mm	0.175	0.117	0.224	0.019
Radius (R1)	240	mm	7.525	3.936	9.896	1.523
Radius (R2)	240	mm	11.991	9.636	15.084	1.090
Radius (R3)	240	mm	29.445	20.974	63.278	6.257

FIGURE 1 Schematic of the quail eggs compression. The left side describes the loading along the X axis. The two arrangements are considered: X_s—The sharp end is in contact with the moving plate; X_b—The blunt end is in contact with the moving plate. The right side corresponds to the loading along the Z axis.

FIGURE 2 Experimental records force–displacement.

FIGURE 3 The influence of the compression velocity on the rupture force.

FIGURE 4 The influence of the compression velocity on displacement at the eggshell rupture.

FIGURE 5 The influence of the compression velocity on work absorbed up to the eggshell rupture.

TABLE 2 Parameters of Eqs. (6)–(8)

Equation no.	Loading orientation	a (Nm m^−n s^n)	n (1)	b (N)	R^2
Eq. (6)	Xs axis (sharp end)	16.22	0.1304	1.98	0.9824
	Xb axis (blunt end)	11.05	0.2964	6.704	0.9662
	Z axis (equator)	18.78	0.065	−8.119	0.9572
		a (Nm m^−2 s)	b (Nm m^−1 s)	c (N)	R^2
Eq. (7)	Xs axis (sharp end)	0.042378	0.18	0.1104	0.9565
	Xb axis (blunt end)	0.05415	0.18	0.1034	0.9573
	Z axis (equator)	0.0514	0.1736	0.1247	0.9438
Eq. (8)	Xs axis (sharp end)	0.3686	0.5445	0.6534	0.9863
	Xb axis (blunt end)	−0.2283	2.733	0.2662	0.9386
	Z axis (equator)	0.2628	0.2477	0.4627	0.9893

Note: R² is the correlation coefficient.

FIGURE 6 Effect of the eggshell curvature on the rupture force. Loading rate 0.0166 mm/s.

TABLE 3 Parameters of Eq. (9)

Compression velocity	a (Nm m^−2 s)	b (Nm m^−1 s)	c (N)	R^2
0.0166 mm/s	−21.76	32.07	3.983	0.9573
0.166 mm/s	−34.44	41.38	5.822	0.8116
1.666 mm/s	−33.62	52.38	6.713	0.8968
5 mm/s	−86.17	73.65	7.577	0.8805

Note: R² is the correlation coefficient.

FIGURE 7 Comparison of quail and hen eggs.