Journal of Food Engineering 78 (2007) 978–983

www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

Use of the generalized Maxwell model for describing

the stress relaxation behavior of solid-like foods
a,b,*
M.A. Del Nobile , S. Chillo b, A. Mentana b, A. Baiano b

a
Department of Food Science, University of Foggia, Via Napoli, 25-71100 Foggia, Italy
b
Istituto per la Ricerca e le Applicazioni Biotecnologiche per la Sicurezza e la Valorizzazione dei Prodotti Tipici e di Qualità,
Università degli Studi di Foggia, Via Napoli, 25-71100 Foggia, Italy

Received 5 March 2005; accepted 2 December 2005

Available online 2 February 2006

Abstract

A comprehensive study on the ability of the generalized Maxwell model to describe the stress relaxation behavior of food matrices is
presented in this work. Five different food matrices were chosen as representative of a wide range of foods: agar gel, meat, ripened cheese,
‘‘mozzarella’’ cheese and white pan bread. The above foods matrices were selected on the base of their macro-structure and compressive
stress strain behavior. Stress relaxation tests were run on the above food matrices at room temperature. The relaxation times distribution
function used in this investigation to describe the viscoelastic behavior of the investigated foods was obtained by summing two normal
distribution functions with the means equal to zero. Results show that the proposed model satisfactorily fits the experimental data. More-
over, it was also found a substantial difference between the relaxation times distribution curves of the investigated bulky and spongy
foods.
 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Modeling; Generalized maxwell model; Stress relaxation; Mechanical properties

1. Introduction force is removed, the material could remain permanently

Food products are complex matrices showing a wide
range of different mechanical behaviors (Gunasekaran &
Mehmet, 2000) even if some of them could be described
with a certain approximation on the base of simplified
models such as the ideal solid (elastic), the ideal liquid (vis-
cous), the ideal plastic (elastic properties below a specific
applied stress and viscous behavior above this value) and
combination of two or more of them. Most food products
are neither pure liquids nor pure solids, simultaneously
showing viscous and elastic behaviors. For instance, when
a force is applied to a viscoelastic food matrix it needs a
certain time to acquire its new dimensions and, when the
*
Corresponding author. Address: Department of Food Science, Uni-
versity of Foggia, Via Napoli, 25-71100 Foggia, Italy. Tel.: +39 881 589
242; fax: +39 881 740 211.
E-mail address: ma.delnobile@unifg.it (M.A. Del Nobile).
deformed.
To quantitatively determine the viscoelastic behavior of
a matrix, transient (quasi-static) and dynamic tests can be
performed. The more typical transient tests are represented
by creep and stress relaxation experiments. In creep tests, a
constant stress is applied to a specimen and the corre-
sponding strain is measured as a function of time. The
considered parameters are the ‘‘compliance’’ (that is the
strain–stress ratio) and the ‘‘relaxation time’’. In stress
relaxation tests, a constant strain is applied and the stress
required to maintain the deformation is measured as a
function of time. When a stress relaxation test is per-
formed, different behaviors can be observed: ideal elastic
materials do not relax whereas ideal viscous materials
instantaneously show a relaxation. Viscoelastic solids grad-
ually relax and reach an equilibrium stress greater than 0,
whereas for viscoelastic fluids, instead, the residual stress
vanishes to zero (Steffe, 1992). The dynamic experiments

0260-8774/$ - see front matter  2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2005.12.011
 M.A. Del Nobile et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 78 (2007) 978–983
differ from transient tests because a sinusoidal stress or
strain is applied instead of a constant stress or strain.
In order to describe the viscoelastic behavior of a mate-
rial, massless mechanical models are used. These models
are composed of springs (considered ideal solids, they
account for the elastic behavior of viscoelastic materials)
and dashpots (representing ideal fluids, they account for
the viscous behavior) combined in many different ways.
Three are the most commonly mechanical analogs used:
the Kelvin–Voigt model, the Maxwell model (Bruno &
Moresi, 2004; Correia & Mittal, 2002), and the standard
linear solid one.
The Kelvin–Voigt model, composed of a spring and a
dashpot in parallel, represents the start point for the devel-
opment of mechanical analogs describing the creep behav-
ior. In fact, the Kelvin model is not sufficient to describe
creeps in biological materials that are better modeled by
the Burgers model (a Kelvin and a Maxwell element in ser-
ies) (Steffe, 1992). A model consisting of one Maxwell ele-
ment in series with two Kelvin–Voight elements is able to
describe a liquid-like viscoelastic behavior (Mitchell &
Blanshard, 1976).
Stress relaxation data are very importance since they
supply information about phenomena involving food prod-
ucts such as fruit ripening (Hassa, Alhamdan, & Elansari,
2005), fruit firmness (Blahovec, 1996), staling of cereal
products (Limanond, Castell-Perez, & Moreira, 2002),
checking phenomenon (Kim & Okos, 1999).
The Maxwell model, consisting of a Hookean spring
and a Newtonian dashpot in series (Mohsenin & Mittal,
1977), is suitable for understanding stress relaxation data,
but does not consider the equilibrium stress. For this rea-
son, the viscoelastic behavior of food can be better
described by using a generalized Maxwell model consisting
of several elements in parallel with a spring (Steffe, 1992).
In a similar model, if the system is subjected to a constant
strain, the total stress is the sum of the stress of each ele-
ment. Since each element may have a different relaxation
time, a relaxation spectra can be obtained for a viscoelastic
material. Models containing more exponential components
and a residual terms have been used to describe the stress
relaxation behavior of Cheddar cheese (Hort, 1997) and
‘‘pasta filata’’ cheese (Masi, 1989). Mancini, Moresi, and
Rancini (1999) were able to describe the viscoelastic behav-
ior of several alginate gels differing for the effective alginate
concentration by means of a generalized Maxwell model
consisting of five elements. A model including one spring
and two Maxwell elements was successfully use to describe
the stress relaxation of lipids such as beeswax, candelilla
wax, carnauba wax and a high-melting milkfat fraction
(Shellhammer, Rumsey, & Krochta, 1997). Limanond
et al. (2002) modeled the kinetics of corn tortilla staling
through stress relaxation data and found that a seven-
element generalized Maxwell model fits the data better
than the three and five ones. The viscoelastic properties
of some pork ham muscles were better fitted to a general-
ized Maxwell model consisting of a parallel coupling of a
979
Hookes body and two Maxwell’s bodies (Lachowicz, Sobc-
zak, Gajowiecki, & Zych, 2003). The compression stress
relaxation data obtained for potatoes exposed to pulsified
electric field were modeled with a five parameter general-
ized Maxwell model (Finca & Dejmek, 2003). Hassa
et al. (2005) compared three popular stress relaxation mod-
els, namely the generalized Maxwell, Nussinovitch, and
Peleg model, in order to describe the viscoelastic properties
of eight date cultivars at their khalal (balah) and rutab
stages of maturity. They found that all considered models
were valid for quantifying the relaxation behavior of the
products but the generalized Maxwell model was the best
in predicting experimental data.
The standard linear solid model, also called Zener
model, can consist in two different mechanical analogs: a
spring in series with a Kelvin model or a spring in parallel
with a Maxwell model.
In addition to the used model, the equilibrium modulus,
the decay modulus, time of relaxation, and specific viscos-
ity in the relaxation model are affected by the specimen ori-
entation and its location with the product (Wang, 2003).
In this study the possibility to use the generalized
Maxwell model for describing the stress relaxation behav-
ior of food matrices is addressed. Five different food matri-
ces were selected with the criteria to be representative of a
wide class of foods. Stress relaxation tests were run at room
temperature and the posed model was fit to the experimen-
tal data to establish if the generalized Maxwell model can
be used to describe the viscoelastic behavior of foods.
2. Materials and methods
Five different matrices were selected as representative of
a wide class of food products: agar gel and four commer-
cially available foods such as ‘‘mozzarella’’ cheese, meat,
ripened cheese and white pan bread. The mean composi-
tion for each of the considered products (Carnovale &
Marletta, 1997) is reported below:
‘‘mozzarella cheese’’—water 58.8%, proteins 18.7%, lip-
ids 19.5%, sugars 0.7%, mineral salts and vitamins;
meat (beef)—76.9% water, proteins 20.7%, lipids 1.0%,
mineral salts;
ripened cheese—water 31.5%, proteins 33.9%, lipids
28.5%, sugars 3.7%, mineral salts and vitamins;
white pan bread—water 33.5%, proteins 9%, lipids 8.7%,
sugars 48.2%, mineral salts and vitamins.
The preparation of the food matrices, performed imme-
diately before dynamic-mechanical analyses, consisted in
cutting 13 mm-diameter specimens by means of a cylindri-
cal mould. The external portion of each cylindrical sample
was covered with some grease to avoid dehydration during
the dynamic-mechanical analysis.
Agar gel was prepared by dissolving agar (Oxoid, Milan,
Italy) in distilled water (final concentration 1.0% w/v). The
obtained solution was then heat treated at 121 C for
980 M.A. Del Nobile et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 78 (2007) 978–983

15 min. Cylindrical specimens (11 mm-diameter) were
obtained by injection in a mould and cooling at room tem-
perature. Before analyses, these specimen were refrigerated
at 4 C for 2 h. Gels represent good systems for basic rhe-
ological studies since they are usually isotropic and
homogeneous.
2.1. Elastic modulus determination
The investigated food matrices were submitted to com-
pression tests by means of a dynamic mechanical analyser
(DMA-Q 800, TA Instruments, New Castle, DE, USA)
equipped with parallel plates (B15 mm) to obtain the
stress–strain curves. Tests were carried out at room temper-
ature according to the following conditions. Preload force:
104 N for agar; 103 N for mozzarella, ripened cheese
and white pan bread; 102 N for meat. Crosshead speed:
0.5 N/min for agar and mozzarella; 1 N/min for meat, rip-
ened cheese and white pan bread. The elastic modulus
could be evaluated from the initial slope of the stress–strain
curve. However, since the samples surfaces are not per-
fectly parallel, the estimation of the storage modulus is
generally affected by an error that might be quite signifi-
cant. For this reason, a mathematical model capable to
describe the entire stress–strain curve was used:
rT ðeT Þ ¼ EC  eT  expðeT  KÞ
where eT and rT (MPa) are the true strain and the true
stress, respectively (Mancini et al., 1999), EC (MPa) is the
elastic modulus (i.e., the tangent to the stress strain curve
at the origin), K is a constant and have to be regarded as
fitting parameter.
ria of choosing food matrices representative of a wide
range of foods. In fact, three food matrices were selected
as representative of bulky foods (that is, agar, meat and
ripened cheese); whereas, the other two were chosen as rep-
resentative of spongy foods (that is, white pan bread and
‘‘mozzarella’’ cheese). Fig. 1 shows the stress–strain curves
relative to the investigated bulky foods, whereas Fig. 2
shows the stress–strain curves relative to the investigated
spongy foods. The curves shown in the figures are the best
fit of Eq. (1) to the experimental data. As expected the con-
cavity of the stress–strain curve is positive for the bulky
food matrices whereas a downward concavity was found
for the stress–strain curves of the spongy foods. In fact,
spongy foods are more elastic than the bulky ones, due
to the presence of pores containing gas instead of intersti-
tial spaces containing fluids that, for the effects of the com-
pression, definitively leave the sample. The values of the
elastic modulus obtained according to the procedure
reported above are listed in Table 1. As can be inferred
ð1Þ

2.2. Stress relaxation tests

Compression tests were also performed in order to eval- Fig. 1. Compressive stress strain test conducted at room temperature: (s)
agar; (n) meat; (h) cheese. The curves shown in the figure were obtained
uate the stress relaxation behavior of the chosen five matri- by fitting Eq. (1) to the experimental data. (—–) agar; (- - - -) meat; (— —)
ces. Tests were carried out at room temperature according ripened cheese.
to the following conditions. Preload force: 104 N for agar;
103 N for mozzarella, meat, ripened cheese and white pan
bread. Instantaneous strain: 6.0% for mozzarella and white
pan bread; 6.5% for agar; 7.5% for meat and ripened
cheese. Relaxation time: 10 min. The stress relaxation value
was calculated as the time-dependent stress divided by the
constant strain.
All the tests were replicated three times, thus the mean
values and the corresponding standard deviations are
reported in the following.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Food matrices selection

As reported above the suitability of the generalized

Fig. 2. Compressive stress strain test conducted at room temperature: ()
Maxwell model to be used to describe the stress relaxation ‘‘mozzarella’’ cheese; (j) white pan bread. The curves shown in the figure
behavior of foods was addressed by using five different were obtained by fitting Eq. (1) to the experimental data. (—–)
food matrices. The selection was carried out with the crite- ‘‘mozzarella’’ cheese; (- - - -) white pan bread.
 M.A. Del Nobile et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 78 (2007) 978–983 981

Table 1
Elastic modulus and relaxation times distribution curve parameters of the investigated food matrices
EC (MPa) d1 G1 (MPa) d2 G2 (MPa)
3 4 3 3
Agar 13.7 · 10 (5.66 · 10 ) 80.6 (34.4) 12.9 · 10 (7.52 · 10 ) 1820 (614) 20.1 · 103 (2.47 · 103)
Meat 6.49 · 103 (5.69 · 105) 45.0 (7.11) 1.18 · 103 (4.95 · 104) 1490 (628) 2.01 · 103 (6.99 · 104)
Ripened cheese 0.102 (0.0293) 30.4 (9.82) 0.464 (0.0469) 1190 (262) 0.740 (0.164)
‘‘Mozzarella’’ cheese 11.9 · 103 (1.44 · 103) 17.2 (6.10) 12.7 · 103 (2.17 · 103) 197 (42.3) 15.3 · 103 (2.73 · 103)
White pan bread 19.6 · 103 (3.39 · 103) 5.57 (2.11) 5.44 · 103 (2.12 · 103) 315 (47.4) 20.6 · 103 (6.45 · 103)

from this table, the elastic modulus values of the investi- decrease in the stress after which the stress level off to con-
gated food span in a wide range of values, corroborating stant value. This behavior was in accord with that found by
the idea that the selected group of foods can be indeed con- Mancini et al. (1999), who pointed out an asymptotically
sidered as representative of a wide range of food matrices. decaying trend for the alginate gels tested. As can be
inferred from the above figures, the final stress values
3.2. Stress relaxation tests obtained for spongy matrices (‘‘mozzarella’’ cheese and
white pan bread) were lower than those calculated for
As reported in the literature (Rosen, 1982) the general- bulky materials. The curves shown in the above figure were
ized Maxwell model is given by the following expression: obtained by fitting Eq. (4) to the experimental data. As can
Z 1  t be inferred from the data shown in Figs. 3–5 the general-
rðtÞ
EðtÞ ¼ ¼ EðkÞ  exp   dk ð2Þ ized Maxwell model excellently fits the experimental data.
e0 0 k
where E(t) (MPa) is the elastic modulus at time t(s), r(t)
(MPa) is the stress at time t(s), e0 is the imposed strain,
E(k) (MPa) is the continuous distribution function of relax-
ation times, k(s) is the relaxation time. In principle any
expression can be used for describing the continuous distri-
bution function of relaxation times, in this investigation the
following expression was used:
( "   2 #)
1 1 k
EðkÞ ¼ G1  pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi exp  
d1  2  p 2 d 1
( "   2 #)
1 1 k
þ G2  pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi exp   ð3Þ
d2  2  p 2 d2

Eq. (3) was obtained by summing two normal distribu-

tion functions with the means equal to zero and a standard
deviations equal to di, each of which was multiplied by a Fig. 3. Compressive stress plotted as a function of time in a stress
constant (Gi). The parameters appearing in Eq. (3) account 
relaxation test conducted at room temperature. ( ) agar, (}) ‘‘mozza-
for the height (Gi) and wideness (di) of the relaxation time rella’’ cheese, (j) white pan bread.
distribution curves. By substituting Eq. (3) in Eq. (2) the
following expression is obtained:
Z 1 ( "  2 #)
1 1 k
EðtÞ ¼ G1  pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi exp  
0 d 1  2  p 2 d 1
Z (
 t 1
1
 exp   dk þ G2  pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
k 0 d2  2  p
"  2 #)
1 k  t
 exp    exp   dk ð4Þ
2 d2 k

The quadrature of a function such as that appearing in

Eq. (4) was made by using the extended Simpson’s rule
(Press, Flannery, Teukolsky, & Vetterling, 1989, Chapter
4).
Figs. 3–5 show the stress relaxation texts for the five Fig. 4. Compressive stress plotted as a function of time in a stress
investigated foods. As expected there is first a sharp relaxation test conducted at room temperature on meat samples.
982 M.A. Del Nobile et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 78 (2007) 978–983

Fig. 5. Compressive stress plotted as a function of time in a stress Fig. 7. The relaxation times distribution curve of meat.
relaxation test conducted at room temperature on ripened cheese samples.

The values of the parameters appearing in Eq. (4) are listed

in Table 1. Bulky and spongy foods particularly differed
each other for the di values that were higher for the first
ones.
The values of the generalized Maxwell model’s parame-
ters listed in Table 1 were used to calculate the relaxation
time distribution curve for the investigated foods, the
results are shown in Figs. 6–9. As can be inferred from
the above figures for each of the investigated foods the con-
tinuous distribution curve of relaxation times is given by
the superposition of two well districted contributions: the
first part describe the short time response of the food matri-
ces, and is narrow and high; the second describe the long
time response of the food matrices, and is wide and low. Fig. 8. The relaxation times distribution curve of ripened cheese.
As one would expect the relaxation times distribution curve
strongly depends on the food structure. In fact, for spongy
foods, such as ‘‘mozzarella’’ cheese and white pan bread,
the relaxation times distribution curve vanish to zero at
relaxation time ranging between 600 and 1000 s; whereas,
for bulky food matrices, such as meat, ripened cheese
and agar, the relaxation times distribution curve vanish
to zero at relaxation time ranging between 2000 and

Fig. 9. The relaxation times distribution curve of (—–) ‘‘mozzarella’’

cheese and (- - - -) white pan bread.

Fig. 6. The relaxation times distribution curve of agar.
5000 s. Since spongy foods are more elastic than the bulky
ones, the release of the stress is faster in the former than in
the latter. If the applied strain is not higher than the critical
strain, spongy foods recover the initial shape whereas
bulky foods show a permanent deformation. Indepen-
dently from food structure, stress relaxation of high mois-
ture foods such as ‘‘mozzarella’’ cheese, meat and agar gel
 M.A. Del Nobile et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 78 (2007) 978–983
would seem associated with water loss from the matrix
pores (Tang, Tung, & Zeng, 1998).
4. Conclusions
The possibility of using the gneralized Maxwell model to
describe the stress relaxation behavior of food matrices was
addressed in this work. Three food matrices representative
of bulky foods and two representative of spongy foods
were used. Their compressive stress strain behavior was
determined. Results show that the elastic modulus of the
examined samples span in wide range of values corroborat-
ing the idea that the selected group of foods can be consid-
ered representative of a wide range of food matrices.
Stress relaxation tests were run on the selected food
matrices. The posed model was fit to the experimental data.
Results show that the proposed model satisfactorily fits the
experimental data suggesting that it can be advantageously
used to determine the viscoelastic behavior of many foods.
It was also found that the relaxation times distribution
curve is given by the superposition of two districted contri-
butions: the first describe the short time response of the
food matrices; the second describe the long time response
of the food matrices. Moreover, a substantial difference
between the relaxation times distribution curves of the
investigated bulky and spongy foods was found.
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