Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2011, 59(1), 23-28 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201159010023

Tensile stress and penetration test of the Red Haven peaches skin

Martin Čermák¹, Miroslav Havlíček¹, Martin Zouhar²

¹ Ústav techniky a automobilové dopravy, Mendelova univerzita v Brně, Zemědělská 1, 613 00 Brno, Česká republika

² Ústav fyzikální elektroniky, Přírodovědecká fakulta, Masarykova universita v Brně, Kotlářská 2, 611 37 Brno, Česká republika

Skin protects fruits against changing external factors such as varying temperature, moisture, etc. The knowledge of its mechanical properties is thus of critical importance. The paper is focused on determination of selected mechanical characteristics of Red Haven peach skin. Such destructive experiments (tensile stress and penetration test) were performed, where fruit skin integrity was radically violated. In a peach, a part of the skin is subject to external mechanical action and resulting deformation is measured and it can be viewed as a function of parameters describing both the action and considered sample of the skin or vice versa. Several basic physical quantities such as Young's modulus of elasticity, stress in failure, toughness, and maximal penetration pressure were determined. These quantities, depending e.g. on date of harvest and describing quality and maturity of peaches, were quantified and evaluated. The results obtained within this research can be used e.g. for creation of detailed mathematical model.

Keywords: peach skin, tensile stress, Young's modulus of elasticity, penetration

Received: September 8, 2010; Published: July 10, 2014  Show citation