2. Rheology of food solids

To characterize the rheological behavior of food solids, they are usually subjected to stress (force per unit area) or, more rarely, stretching, and their deformation is recorded. The stress-strain recordings obtained characterize the rheological behavior of the food, depending on the experimental conditions.

This is how we talk about :

• compressive strength, stiffness, breaking point ;

• yield strength, i.e. the maximum stress a material can sustain without permanent deformation occurring after the stress has been removed;

• modulus of elasticity (stress/strain ratio) ;

• elasticity, i.e. a material's ability to recover from deformation, even if not instantaneously (inverse of plasticity);

• ...