Study of Viscoelastic Properties of Wheat Kernels
Using Compression Load Method
N. Ponce-García,1 J. D. C. Figueroa,2,3 G. A. López-Huape,2 H. E. Martínez,4 and R. Martínez-Peniche1
ABSTRACT
The method to measure hardness and other viscoelastic properties of
intact wheat kernels is presented. Wheat with 9.3% moisture showed high
elastic behavior compared with wheat tempered at 22.5 % moisture that
showed a plastic behavior. Load-deformation curves showed that bread
wheat behaves as a more plastic material than durum wheat, which is a
more elastic material. Yield point of all the wheat samples was ≈18.5 N,
independent of wheat type and moisture content. The height of the wheat
kernel increased linearly, and the compression area increased exponen-
tially, with increasing moisture content. The modulus of elasticity of
wheat ranged from 99.2 MPa for 22.5% moisture content to 394.8 MPa
Wheat physical quality has been tested conventionally using
several methods that try to evaluate the hardness. A practical and
appropriate method to evaluate other fundamental mechanical
properties of wheat kernels such as modulus of elasticity, yield
point, yield stress, compressive strength, as well as the viscoelas-
tic properties like elastic and plastic work, may increase the effi-
ciency of grain selection for processing, marketing, and end use.
Hardness is a grain characteristic defined as the resistance to de-
formation with applied force (stress) and is largely determined by
the endosperm properties (Gates and Dobraszczyk 2004; Gref-
feuille et al 2006). Problems are often encountered when trying to
correlate the hardness (compression force obtained from a con-
ventional texturometer) and wheat quality. More difficulties were
found when trying to standardize the hardness with the empirical
scales given by the instruments for near-infrared (NIR) and single
kernel characterization system (SKCS). The cause is undoubtedly
the difference in the hardness definitions used in conjunction with
these approaches. Most methods used to assess grain hardness are
empirical and based on the overall properties of the whole grains
(Gates and Dobraszczyk 2004; Greffeuille et al 2006; Morris et al
2007). Related to the other mechanical properties of the wheat
kernel, several methods have been suggested for the determina-
tion of the elastic modulus of small pieces of agricultural materi-
als also using compression tests. Our research here on wheat grain
viscoelastic properties aims to define and measure hardness in
terms of mechanical properties. The viscoelastic methods are based
on the Hertz and Boussineseq assumptions related to deformation
and elasticity (Pharr et al 1992; Gubicza et al 1996a,b; Wei et al
2001). These methods include the use of a parallel plate for whole
grain, spherical indenter, cylindrical indenter, and parallel plate
for core specimen.
The viscoelastic behavior of wheat using the traditional uniax-
ial compression of various loading devices, including parallel
plate, was determined in cut samples of the hard endosperm
(Shelef and Mohsenin 1967; Haddad et al 1998, 2001), and in
1 DIPA, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro. Centro Universitario, Cerro de las
Campanas S/N, Querétaro, Qro., CP 76010.
2 Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados (CINVESTAV-IPN), Libra-
miento Norponiente 2000, Fracc. Real de Juriquilla, Querétaro, C.P. 76230 Qro.,
México.
3 Corresponding author. E-mail: jfigueroa@qro.cinvestav.mx
4 Facultad de Químico-Farmacobiología, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás
de Hidalgo, Morelia, Mich., México.
doi:10.1094 / CCHEM-85-5-0667
© 2008 AACC International, Inc.
Cereal Chem. 85(5):667–672
for 9.3% moisture content. Young’s modulus range for soft wheat such as
Salamanca, Saturno, and Cortazar cultivars was 232.2–308.5 MPa, as
compared with Rayón bread wheat at 321.5 MPa and the Altar, Sofía, and
Rafi cultivars of durum wheat that had elastic moduli of 438.7–485.8
MPa. The compression force and final stress decreased from 69.9 N and
40.1 MPa in soft wheat to 90 N and 78.9 MPa in durum, respectively.
Total work range was 14.7 MPa/sec in soft wheat to 19.7 MPa/sec for
durum wheat and, as expected, was higher in the durum and bread wheat
than in soft wheat. The plastic part ranged from 2.4 MPa/sec in soft wheat
to 0.6 MPa/sec in durum wheat.
whole corn kernel by Singh et al (1991). In grains, the evaluation
of mechanical properties is particularly difficult because these
parameters may be very seriously affected by the percentage of
strain, drift, temperature, and moisture content. This explains, in
part, the ample range of modulus of elasticity values reported
(Shelef and Mohsenin 1967; Singh et al 1991; Haddad et al
1998). In addition, cutting or shaping of a biological material may
alter its structural mechanics and resultant mechanical behavior,
more so for small grains such as cereal grains. Therefore, to ob-
tain realistic data on the mechanical responses of cereal grains, as
far as possible, intact grains should be tested (Singh et al 1991).
The major objective of this research was to determine the me-
chanical and viscoelastic behavior of intact wheat kernels as a
function of wheat type and moisture content.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Materials
Three kinds of grains were tested. The wheat samples were
classified in accordance with the Mexican classification system:
bread wheat Rayón; soft wheat (Salamanca, Saturno, and Corta-
zar cultivars); and durum wheat (Altar, Rafi, and Sofia cultivars).
In addition, 250 g of a commercial bread wheat sample with 9.3%
moisture content was conditioned with distilled water to get 17.2,
19.5, and 22.5% moisture contents to study the effect of the vis-
coelastic properties of wheat kernels. Samples with 17.2, 19.5,
and 22.5% moisture contents were prepared in two steps. First,
they were placed into airtight containers with distilled water to
reach ≈14.5% moisture, then they were shaken for a few minutes
to distribute the water and left to rest 5 hr at 25°C. For the second
step, additional water was added to the sample to desired moisture
content, shaken, and kept for additional 12 hr.
Grain Characterization
Moisture content was determined by Approved Methods 55-10
and 44-15A, respectively (AACC International 2000). Kernel
height was measured using a digital caliper (model CD-6 CS,
Mitutoyo, Japan).
A TA-XT2 texture analyzer (Texture Technologies Corporation,
Stable Micro Systems, Surrey, England) was used to measure the
kernel response to compressive loadings between two parallel
plates (an aluminum probe 50 mm in diameter [model P/50] and
the plate). The technique used to determine the contact area (load-
bearing area) of the individual kernels during the loading process
first used an ink pad to paint the grain, then pieces of paper 30
mm × 30 mm were taped onto the loading face of the top plate to
Vol. 85, No. 5, 2008 667
record the ink impression of the contact surface of the grain dur-
ing loading. After compression, the contact mark left by the grain
represented the actual contact area. The impression was then digi-
talized and the area was calculated using IMAGE-J software.
Before loading, the height of each kernel was determined with
a caliper. Individual kernels were placed onto the plate with the
crease side down. The strain we used to evaluate the mechanical
properties of grains was 0.50 mm with constant deformation ve-
locity of 0.1 mm/sec, and the resultant load deformation behavior
was recorded. Each data point was an average of 10 readings for
each repetition from different wheat kernels of the same sample.
Young’s Modulus or modulus of elasticity (E) was determined
from the stress-strain curve at a relatively low deformation
E = σ/ε
where σ (force/area) is normal stress and ε is the strain. Also
strain is defined as
ε = [(L0 – Lf)/L0] × 100 (2)
where L0 and Lf are the initial kernel height and final deformation,
respectively.
The viscoelastic behavior of the wheat kernels was calculated
using compression experiments, the work-of-compression was
determined from the loading/unloading curve (Fig. 1). The area
under the loading curve gives the total work done (WT,) by the
loading device during compression. The reversible elastic contri-
bution (WE,) of the total work can be deduced from the area under
the unloading curve, and the energy absorbed by plastic deforma-
tion alone is the difference between the two (WP = WT – WE).
(1) From Figs. 1 and 2, the load-deformation can be described by a
second-degree polynomial. The graph of such a function is a pa-
rabola
P = c2h + c3h2 (3)

Statistical Analyses
Data was analyzed using Tukey’s test with SAS general linear
model (GLM). Simple Pearson’s correlations were performed using
PROC CORR and were significant and highly significant at P ≤
0.05, and P ≤ 0.001, respectively (SAS Institute, Cary, NC).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Effect of Moisture Content on the Physical

Fig. 1. Compression cycle schematic. P, load; Pm, maximum load; WP,
plastic work dissipated (WT = WE + WP); WE, work performed during
unloading; and h, deformation.
and Mechanical Properties of Wheat Kernels
The effect of moisture content on the physical and mechanical
properties of wheat kernels as determined by uniaxial compres-
sion tests is presented in Table I. The height of the wheat in-
creases linearly (r2 = 0.80**) due to kernel swelling to reach 6%,
and the compression area value increased exponentially (r2 =
0.75*) to reach 35% with an increment of 10% moisture content.
The modulus of elasticity of wheat was 99.2 MPa for 22.5%
moisture content to 394.8 MPa for 9.3% moisture content. Other
authors reported similar ranges of values (250–750 MPa) for
wheat endosperm (Shelef and Mohsenin 1967; Haddad et al 1998)
and 345–420 MPa for slices of wheat tempered at 14% moisture

Fig. 2. Behavior schematic of various materials during compression load. A, ideal plastic; B, elastoplastic; and C, ideal elastic.

TABLE I
Mean Values for Physical and Mechanical Properties of Bread Wheat Conditioned at Different Water Contentsa,b
Kernel Compression Compression Modulus of
Moisture (%) Height (mm) Area (mm2) Force (N) Final Stress (MPa) Final Strain (%) Elasticity (MPa)
9.3 3.08 ± 0.16b 0.99 ± 0.36b 58.09 ± 9.33a 62.49 ± 12.99a 16.27 ± 0.9a 394.8 ± 49.67a
17.2 3.12 ± 0.09ab 1.05 ± 0.27b 45.02 ± 6.37b 44.26 ± 7.78b 15.99 ± 1.1a 292.7 ± 38.43b
19.5 3.25 ± 0.16ab 1.48 ± 0.18a 39.91 ± 5.15b 26.11 ± 3.31c 15.34 ± 1.2a 150.3 ± 24.42c
22.5 3.28 ± 0.11a 1.52 ± 0.24a 23.21 ± 3.07c 15.67 ± 3.38c 15.23 ± 1.1a 99.2 ± 19.84d
a Measured using a uniaxial cell with strain of 0.5 mm and 0.1 mm/sec of deformation velocity.
b Means ± standard deviation followed by the same letter are not significantly different at P ≤ 0.05 (analyzed using Tukey’s test).

668 CEREAL CHEMISTRY

content (Kang et al 1995). Mechanical properties such as final
stress and modulus of elasticity decreased by 75% linearly with
an increment of 10% moisture content in the kernel. This means
that at 22.5% moisture, the wheat kernel becomes less elastic and
requires 75% less force to break compared with the same kernel
at 9.3% moisture.
In general, kernel strength properties decreased with increasing
moisture content. Kang et al (1995) used slices of the wheat en-
dosperm compressed at 1 mm/min of velocity and reported values
of modulus of elasticity that ranged from 304 MPa in soft wheat
to 368 MPa in hard red winter wheat (HRW) and 348.4 for durum
wheat for 10% moisture content.
For 18% moisture, the values of elastic modulus were 159.6
MPa for soft wheat, 313.8 MPa for HRW wheat, and 288.2 MPa
for durum wheat, which are within the range reported in Tables I
and II. Haddad et al (1998, 2001), using parallelepipedal-shaped
samples of wheat endosperm, reported Young’s modulus of 250
MPa for soft wheat, 420–790 MPa for HRW wheat, and 380–930
MPa for durum wheat with mealy and vitreous endosperm at 12%
moisture content. Greffeuille et al (2006) also worked with some
parallelepipedal-shaped samples at 17% moisture content and they
reported elastic modulus values of 390–680 MPa and 520–740 MPa
for soft and hard wheat with mealy and vitreous endosperm, re-
spectively, which are within the ranges reported in this study.
The deformation of wheat kernels as a function of moisture
content increased as the moisture content increased. The observed
bioyield point represents the cell rupture in biological materials.
During the initial phase of loading (yield point) deformation started
at ≈16 N and concluded at ≈18.5 N. However, no statistical differ-
ences were detected among the different moisture treatments or
wheat types (Figs. 3 and 4).

Physical and Mechanical Properties Determined

Fig. 3. Typical curves of compression vs loading time for wheat kernels
with different moisture contents. Arrows indicate yield point.
for Wheat Kernel Types
The elastic modulus was higher in durum and bread wheats than
in soft wheat. Table II shows the average for 10 repetitions of
Young’s modulus as measured in a single wheat kernel for soft
wheat such as Salamanca, Saturno, and Cortazar cultivars. Values
were 232.2–308.5 MPa, as compared with Rayón bread wheat at
321.5 Mpa, and Altar, Sofía, and Rafi durum wheat cultivars that
had elastic modulus values of 438.7–485.8 MPa. The compression
area decreased from 1.84 mm2 for soft wheat to 1.15 mm2 for
durum wheats. The compression force and final stress increased
from 69.9 N and 40.1 MPa in soft wheats to 90 N and 78.9 MPa
in durum wheats, respectively, but the final strain remains rela-
tively constant in all the wheat types. Similar shape curves and
results were reported previously by Kang et al (1995), Delwiche
(2000), Glenn et al (1991), Haddad et al (1998, 2001), and Os-
borne et al (2007).

Fig. 4. Typical force displacement curves of wheats. A, Soft wheat Saturno; B, bread wheat Rayón; C, durum wheat Rafi. Arrow indicates yield point.

TABLE II
Mean Values for Elastic Modulus in Wheat Kernels Measured in a Single Kernela
Kernel Compression Compression Final Stress Final Strain Modulus of
Cultivar Thickness (mm) Area (mm2) Force (N) (MPa) (%) Elasticity (MPa)
Saturno 2.90 ± 0.16ab 1.83 ± 0.43a 69.92 ± 8.75d 40.00 ± 1.07d 17.23 ± 1.0ab 232.14 ± 55.41d
Salamanca 2.97 ± 0.20ab 1.78 ± 0.28ab 75.13 ± 7.79cd 43.30 ± 9.09d 16.81 ± 1.2ab 244.65 ± 45.81cd
Cortazar 3.06 ± 0.14a 1.56 ± 0.21a–c 80.24 ± 5.83cd 50.05 ± 9.46cd 16.09 ± 1.0 b 308.54 ± 29.92bc
Rayón 2.82 ± 0.14b 1.47 ± 0.12b–d 86.93 ± 5.82ab 63.23 ± 1.39bc 17.71 ± 0.9a 321.46 ± 32.54b
Altar 3.00 ± 0.13ab 1.29 ± 0.13c–e 92.58 ± 3.66a 71.05 ± 8.88ab 16.61 ± 0.7ab 438.65 ± 50.03a
Sofía 3.03 ± 0.16a 1.22 ± 0.17de 88.74 ± 6.72ab 71.53 ± 1.45ab 16.61 ± 1.0ab 454.14 ± 79.36a
Rafi 2.97 ± 0.13ab 1.15 ± 0.16e 90.94 ± 6.20a 78.95 ± 1.24a 16.87 ± 0.8ab 485.80 ± 54.33a
a Means ± standard deviation followed by the same letter are not significantly different at P ≤ 0.05 (analyzed using Tukey’s test).

Vol. 85, No. 5, 2008 669

Fig. 5. Typical load and unloading deformation curve of Saturno cultivar that compares the experimental values to the fitted values for the quadratic
Equation 3 (P = c2h + c3h2). A, Loading: continuous line represents experimental values and dotted line represents calculated values. Due to poor resolu-
tion, the plot was magnified to insert specific values below yield point on the right-hand side to assist interpretation. B, Unloading: continuous line repre-
sents the experimental values and dotted line represents the calculated values.
Therefore, durum wheat kernels have a higher maximum stress
(strength), modulus of elasticity (stiffness), and toughness than
the mealy soft wheat and bread wheat cultivars.
Delwiche (2000) used wheat endosperm cylinders compressed
at a velocity of 0.5 mm/min and reported modulus of elasticity
values of ≈805–1,130 MPa for soft wheat and 1,850–2,050 MPa
for HRS for 9–10% moisture content. Glenn et al (1991) reported
the modulus of elasticity of core endosperm of bread wheat and
durum wheat of 500–1,500 MPa for American wheats, which are
higher than those found for Mexican wheats and those reported
for French wheats by Kang et al (1995) and Haddad et al (1998,
2001). This is due to different breeding conditions and low com-
pression velocity used by Delwiche (2000) but it does follow the
tendency that hard wheats usually present higher modulus of elas-
ticity than soft wheats at the same moisture content.
Regarding elastic behavior of wheat, in most cases, the initial
portion of the curve is approximately nonlinear up to certain lev-
els of deformation, beyond which it becomes linear (Fig. 4). We
observed that durum wheat is more linear than the soft and bread
wheats, which showed a small curvature before reaching the yield
point. This means that durum wheat follows the Hookean behav-
ior better than soft and bread wheats. For ideal elastic materials,
stress is directly proportional to strain according to Hooke’s law.
Usually, for other types of material, the Young’s modulus should
be determined from the initial section of the loading stress-strain
curve at relatively low deformation, at the section before the yield
point. However, in wheat kernel samples, that region does not
follow the elastic profile well and it behaves as a plastic material.
In inorganic materials, it is helpful to calculate Young’s modulus
from Equation 1 or to use the slope of the section after the yield
point of the unloading stress-strain curve.
Viscoelastic Properties of Wheat Kernels
Several methods have been suggested for the determination of
the elastic modulus of small pieces of agricultural materials using
compression tests. The methods are based on the assumptions of
Hertz and Boussineseq (Pharr et al 1992; Gubicza et al 1996a,b;
Wei et al 2001). The test methods include the use of a parallel
plate for whole grain, with a spherical indenter and a cylindrical
indenter, and a parallel plate on core specimens. Despite succes-
sive improvements, the methods based on the Hertz and Boussi-
neseq theory all have problems due to the whole structure of the
wheat grain (Haddad et al 1998). Any variability in the form of
the grain or the properties induces errors in the measurement of
the viscoelastic characteristics of the endosperm (Haddad et al
1998).
To overcome these problems, we are proposing to take into ac-
count the whole grain and apply the load and displacement tech-
670 CEREAL CHEMISTRY
niques using the wheat kernel as an indenter. The use of load and
displacement sensing indentation techniques are becoming in-
creasingly popular for measuring the elastic moduli of materials.
These techniques rely on the fact that the displacements recovered
during loading and unloading are largely elastic, in which case,
the elastic punch theory can be used to determine the viscoelastic
parameters.
Several authors have proposed estimation of hardness in soft
materials in terms of the maximum applied load divided by the
projected area of the permanent impression being equivalent to
the plastic work divided by plastically deformed volume (Pharr et
al 1992; Tuck et al 2001). If we relate that to the loading area, we
have the formula Load P (N)/deformation (mm) = plastic work
Wp (J)/plastic area (mm2)
In Fig. 5, for example, we present loading and unloading data
for wheat kernels. The loading curve passes through the origin.
The data can be fitted well to the quadratic equation P = c2h +
c3h2; r2 = 0.999, especially the loading, before reaching the yield
point (Fig. 5A). Pharr et al (1992) reported that linear unloading
is observed in metals over most of the unloading range. There are,
however, many materials like cereals for which unloading curves
are not completely linear (Fig. 5B). However, the experimental
results showed a good approximation to a linear relationship (r2 =
0.9957; P < 0.001) between unloading and deformation (Fig. 5B).
Pharr et al (1992) investigated the validity of load approxima-
tion to the linearity of different indenters and realized that the
methodology is more universal than generally recognized. In fact,
the equations presented are perfectly valid for any indenter. Thus,
the relationship between the loading and contact area is geometri-
cally independent, at least in the selected linear part of the curve,
and an analysis used to extract moduli and contact areas using the
slope of the linear part of the loading or unloading curves is not
limited just to the flat punch geometry. This also means that
curved data shown in Fig. 5 is expected because of the curvature
and geometry, except for the flat punch. However, in the present
case, the spherical or ellipsoidal geometry of the wheat kernel is
substituted for the indenter regular shape.
Various types of continuous tests have come into general use
for the determination of mechanical properties of materials. The
common feature of these tests is that the applied load is registered
as a function of indentation depth (deformation herein) during
both the loading and unloading periods (Gubicza et al 1996a,b). A
schematic load-penetration depth curve was reported by several
researchers (Pharr et al 1992; Gubicza et al 1996a,b; Tuck et al
2001) and is shown in Fig. 2.
The effect of moisture on the load-deformation curve of wheat
is shown in Fig. 6. We observed that wheat with low moisture
content showed high elastic behavior compared with the wheat
Fig. 6. Load vs. deformation of wheat at moisture contents of A, 22.5%; B, 17.2%; C, 9.3%.

Fig. 7. Load vs. deformation curves of wheat types. A, Soft wheat Saturno; B, bread wheat Rayón; C, durum wheat Rafi.

TABLE III
Mean Values for Viscoelastic Components in Wheat Measured in Intact Kernelsa,b
Area of Total Area of Elastic Area of Plastic Area Curve
Cultivar Work (MPa/sec) Work (MPa/sec) Work (MPa/sec) Yield Point (N) Load Time (N/sec)
Saturno 14.74 ± 2.31c 12.30 ± 2.22d 2.44 ± 0.87ab 18.19 ± 0.52b 143.2 ± 19.29d
Salamanca 16.24 ± 2.26bc 13.38 ± 2.17cd 2.86 ± 0.97a 18.81 ± 0.50ab 159.9 ± 19.91cd
Cortazar 17.79 ± 1.40ab 14.99 ± 1.75bc 2.79 ± 1.26a 19.68 ± 0.61a 178.5 ± 9.60cd
Rayón 18.89 ± 1.53a 17.16 ± 1.86ab 1.74 ± 0.74bc 18.21 ± 0.37b 186.5 ± 13.03ab
Altar 19.65 ± 1.26a 19.07 ± 1.25a 0.58 ± 0.23cd 17.95 ± 1.04b 197.0 ± 12.55b
Sofía 18.92 ± 1.98a 18.01 ± 2.15a 0.91 ± 0.44cd 18.17 ± 0.58b 193.5 ± 16.53ab
Rafi 19.68 ± 1.68a 18.71 ± 1.82a 0.98 ± 0.30d 18.21 ± 0.55b 202.4 ± 6.80a
a Measured using uniaxial cell with strain of 0.5 mm and 0.1 mm/sec of deformation velocity.
b Means ± standard deviation followed by the same letter are not significantly different at P ≤ 0.05 (analyzed using Tukey’s test).

TABLE IV Yield point in all samples showed a rupture with a loading

Correlation Coefficients Between and Mechanical Parameters force of ≈18.5 N independent of wheat type and moisture content.
and Viscoelastic Properties of Wheat Kernelsa
Table III shows that the total work ranged from 14.74 MPa/sec
Area of Area of Area of in soft wheat to 19.68 MPa/sec for durum wheats and, as ex-
Parameter Total Work Elastic Work Plastic Work pected, was higher in the durum and bread wheats than in soft
Maximum force 0.947** 0.993** –0.681** wheats. There was a correlation between total work and elastic
Compression area –0.653** –0.684** 0.484** work, which means that most of the total work is due to the elas-
Final stress 0.795** 0.850** –0.651** tic part of the wheat. The plastic part ranged from 2.44 MPa/sec
Final strain ns ns ns
Elastic modulus 0.776** 0.827** –0.636** in soft wheat to 0.58 MPa/sec in durum wheat. The yield point
Yield point ns ns 0.341** was ≈18–20 N. With the exception of Cortazar, which showed
a
higher yield point, there were no significant differences among
**, Significant at P < 0.001; ns, not significant.
the wheat types. Similar behavior was shown in Fig. 3 for the
effect of moisture content on the yield points. Energy absorbed is
tempered with 22.5% moisture content showing a plastic behavior represented by the area under the load-time curves as shown in
similar to Fig. 2A. The same type of load-deformation curves are Fig. 4 and it decreased with the increase in moisture content (Fig.
presented for soft, bread, and durum wheats in Fig. 7. 3). Soft wheat requires less energy to deform than durum wheat.
The typical load-displacement data where bread wheat Rayón The relationship between some mechanical and viscoelastic
behaves as a more plastic material than the durum wheat Rafi, properties of wheat kernels is shown in Table IV. The maximum
which is a more elastic material, is shown in Fig. 7 and Table III. force, final stress, and elastic modulus were correlated positively
The initial unloading curves are often linear, at least over the ini- with the elastic work and negatively with the plastic work. The
tial portion of the unloading. compression area increased as the plastic component increased.

Vol. 85, No. 5, 2008 671

Correlation between yield point and plastic work affects the load-
displacement curve with a deviation in the elastic behavior and it
can be seen below the yield point, where the data do not fit well
to the elastic load-deformation polynomial curve shown in Fig. 5.
CONCLUSIONS
This work showed that the mechanical and viscoelastic prop-
erties of wheat kernels can be evaluated very well with the com-
pression loading method we proposed by applying the theory of
elasticity. The yield point, of all the wheat samples showed a rup-
ture with a loading force of ≈18.5 N, independent of the wheat
type and moisture content. The wheat kernels exhibited elastic
behavior, obeying Hooke’s law as shown by the linear relationship
between load applied and deformation. Load deformation data
showed that soft and bread wheat behaved more as a plastic mate-
rial than did durum wheat, which is a more elastic material.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We wish to acknowledge the financial support received from CONACYT
for the scholarships of Ponce-García. We also wish to acknowledge Ben-
jamin Ramírez Wong for the wheat samples.
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