Mechanical characterization of shredded wheat

The purpose of the study was to evaluate a methodology for mechanical characterization of brittle foods with strong anisotropy. Spoon-sized pieces of three commercial brands of dry shredded wheat were chosen for the demonstration. They were compressed along their three principal axes, individually and grouped in the same orientation. The force-displacement curves in the three directions were all irregular and irreproducible but had discernible features characteristic of the specimen's orientation. When tested as constrained groups, these features could change, depending on the compression direction, reflecting on the contribution of the broken structure's remnants to the specimen's mechanical resistance. The assemblies' force-displacement curves were all smoother than those of the individual particles, a result of the "averaging effect." The overall force level could not be predicted from the number of pieces because of differences in the specimens' post-failure response to added deformation. The jaggedness of the normalized (dimensionless) force oscillations record was quantified in terms of an apparent Kolmogorov (fractal) dimension, determined with the box counting algorithm. Its value strongly depended on the smoothing model's goodness fit if the fit was too close, but not if it only captured the general shape of the force-displacement curve. Despite the irregular and irreproducible mechanical signature of shredded wheat and the dependence on the specimens' orientation, it is still possible to characterize the products' mechanical properties in a way that distinguishes between their overall strength and brittleness. The described method could help to quantify textural differences between these and other brittle food products, and probably identify the conditions under which crunchiness would be maintained or lost.