Sustainability, Vol. 11, Pages 7100: The Effect of Wheat Moisture and Hardness on the Parameters of the Peleg and Normand Model during Relaxation of Single Kernels at Variable Initial Loading (Sustainability)

The aim of the study was to examine the Peleg and Normand model to characterize the overall stress relaxation behavior of wheat kernel at varying load conditions. The relaxation experiments were made with the help of the universal testing machine, Zwick Z020, by subjecting the samples to compression at four distinct initial load levels, i.e., 20 N, 30 N, 40 N, and 50 N. The measurements were made for four wheat varieties (two soft and two hard-type endosperms) and seven levels of moisture content. Relaxation characteristics were approximated with the help of the Peleg and Normand equation. An interactive influence of the load level, moisture, and wheat hardness on the Peleg and Normand constants has been confirmed. For moist kernels, a higher amount of absorbed compression energy was released, since less energy was required to keep the deformation at a constant level. The constants differed depending on wheat hardness. Higher values of k1 revealed that the initial force decay was slower for hard varieties. This is more characteristic of elastic behavior. Similarly, higher values of k2 pointed to a larger amount of elastic (recoverable) energy at the end of the relaxation. The initial loading level had no or only a slight effect on the model coefficients (Y(t), k1, and k2). The parameters of the Peleg and Normand model decreased with an increase in the water content in the kernels.