VISCOELASTIC BEHAVIOR

VISCOELASTIC BEHAVIOR

• Viscous fluids generally exhibit

viscosity while solids exhibit
elasticity.
• Some foods show both viscous and elastic
properties which are known as viscoelastic
materials.
• The typical food example for viscoelastic fluids is
wheat flour dough.
• Dairy cream, ice cream mix, cheese, and most
gelled products are also viscoelastic foods.
Characteristics ofdie swell viscoelastic
material
• If a viscoelastic fluid is stirred by a rotating rod it tends
to climb the rod, which is known as the Weissenberg
effect.
• Normal stress differences present in a viscoelastic fluid,
however, may cause jet expansion (called die swell)
which are two or more times the diameter of the tube.
• Highly elastic fluids may exhibit a tubeless siphon m
effect.
• Another phenomenon observed in recoil phenomthe
viscoelastic material is called the enon. When the flow
of viscoelastic material is stopped, tensile forces in the
fluid cause particles to move back.
 Weissenberg effect
• When a viscous fluid is agitated, the circular motion
causes a vortex.
• If a viscoelastic fluid is stirred by a rotating rod it tends to
climb the rod, which is known as the Weissenberg effect.
• You might have observed this effect while mixing a cake
batter or bread dough at home. This is due to the
production of a normal force acting at right angles to the
rotational forces, which in turn acts in a horizontal plane.
• The rotation tends to straighten out the polymer
molecules in the direction of rotation but the molecules
attempt to return to their original position.
Figure 1. (a) Vortex formation observed in viscous fluids. (b) Weissenberg effect
observed in viscoelastic fluids.
Figure 2. Weissenberg effect observed in viscoelastic fluids.
 Die swell
• When a Newtonian fluid emerges from a long,
round tube into the air, the emerging jet will
normally contract. It may expand to a diameter of
10% to 15% larger than the tube diameter at low
Reynolds numbers. Normal stress differences
present in a viscoelastic fluid, however, may
cause jet expansion (called die swell) which are
two or more times the diameter of the tube. In
addition, highly elastic fluids may exhibit a
tubeless siphon effect (Steffe, 1996).
Fig. 3: Die swell
Fig. 4: Tubeless siphon
 Recoil phenomenon

• When the flow of a viscoelastic material is

stopped, the tensile forces in the material
cause the particles to move back to their
original position. This is because the particles
in a viscoelastic material are connected by
crosslinks, which allow the material to store
energy when it is deformed. When the flow is
stopped, the energy stored in the crosslinks is
released, causing the particles to move back
to their original position.
Figure 5. Recoil phenomenon in viscous and viscoelastic fluids
• There are three different methods to study
viscoelastic materials: stress relaxation test, creep
test, and dynamic test.

• Stress relaxation test

• If food materials are deformed to a fixed strain and
the strain is held constant, the stress required to
maintain this strain decreases with time. This is
called stress relaxation.
• In this test, stress is measured as a function of time
as the material is subjected to a constant strain.
• This test can be conducted in shear, uniaxial tension,
or uniaxial compression. Figure-6 shows stress
relaxation curves for elastic, viscous, and viscoelastic
materials.
 Stress relaxation test
• As can be seen in Fig. 6, ideal viscous substances relax
instantaneously but no relaxation is observed in ideal
elastic materials.
• Viscoelastic materials relax gradually and stop
depending on the molecular structure of the material.
• Stress in viscoelastic solids will decay to an equilibrium
stress σe, which is greater than zero but the residual
stress in viscoelastic liquids is zero.
• For viscoelastic material, relaxation time is 0.1–106 s
• Relaxation time is very short for liquids, which is 10−13 s
for water while it is very long for elastic solids.
Figure 6. Stress relaxation curves for elastic, viscous and viscoelastic materials
Creep Test

• If a constant load is applied to biological

materials and if stresses are relatively large, the
material will continue to deform with time. This is
known as creep.
• In a creep test, an instantaneous constant stress is
applied to the material and the resulting strain is
measured as a function of time.
• There is a possibility of some recovery of the
material when the stress is released as the material
tries to return to its original shape.
Creep Test
• Creep test can be performed in uniaxial tension or
compression.
• The creep curves for elastic, viscous, and viscoelastic
materials are shown in Fig. 7. For liquids, strain
increases with time in a steady manner and the
observed stress will be constant with time.
• Ideal viscous material shows no recovery since it is
affected linearly with stress.
• Viscoelastic material such as bread dough shows partial
recovery. They show a nonlinear response to strain
since they have the ability to recover some structure by
storing energy.
Figure 7.Creep and recovery curves for elastic, viscous and viscoelastic
materials.
MECHANICAL MODELS

• MECHANICAL MODELS To understand the

rheological behavior of viscoelastic foods,
some mechanical models are used.
• These models consist of springs and dashpots.
Elastic (Spring) Model

• A Hookean spring is shown in Fig. 1.1

• The deformation distance of spring (x) varies
linearly with the force acting on the system (F):
• F=kx
• where k is the spring
constant. The spring is
considered as an ideal solid
element obeying Hooke’s law:
Figure 1.1: Elastic (spring) model
 Viscous (Dashpot) Model
• Dashpot is a simple piston–cylinder or a
syringe type of arrangement.

• A force applied on the piston will advance the

piston in the direction of the applied force.

20
Viscous (Dashpot) Model

• A dashpot is shown in Fig. 1.2: The rate of

extension varies linearly with the force acting on
the system:

• where C is a constant proportional to the diameter

of the holes.
• The dashpot is considered as an ideal fluid
element obeying Newton’s law in which force is
proportional to rate of extension:
Figure 1.2 Viscous (dashpot) model.
 Combination Models
• Springs and dashpots can be connected in
different ways to express the behavior of
viscoelastic materials.
• The most common models are the Maxwell
and Kelvin-Voigt models.
• In Maxwell model the spring and dashpot are
connected in series whereas they are
connected in parallel in the Kelvin model.
Maxwell Model
 Kelvin – Voight Model
• Spring and dashpot connected in parallel

A stress σ applied is shared by the spring and dashpot

elements.
σ = σs + σd 25
 Deborah number (De)
• In viscoelastic fluids, stress is a A function of the strain
similar to a solid and it is also a function of strain rate like a
liquid.
• The degree that a fluid can return to its original position
depends on its elastic and viscous characteristics.
• A dimensionless group, the Deborah number, is important
for viscoelastic materials.
• For any fluid Deborah number (De) is:

o
De =

o
Where is the characteristic relaxation time of the
material and θ is the characteristic time of the deformation
process.
 Deborah number (De)
• The Deborah number represents the ratio of
duration of fluid memory to the duration of the
deformation process and is used as a measure of
degree of viscoelasticity.
• If De < 1, that is, if the relaxation time of the
liquid is less than the characteristic deformation
time, the fluid appears to be more viscous than
elastic.
• On the contrary, if De > 1, it appears to be more
elastic than viscous.