Mechanical properties of a tropical fruit

Packaging is a necessity to many industries especially when the transportation of goods is involved. Many industries strive towards optimization and hence, it is important to either continue to improve the performance of existing packaging materials or to discover new resources. One potential resour...

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Main Author: Niew, Yan Ling
Other Authors: Shu Dong Wei
Format: Final Year Project
Language:English
Published: 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/68600
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-686002023-03-04T18:37:49Z Mechanical properties of a tropical fruit Niew, Yan Ling Shu Dong Wei School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering DRNTU::Engineering Packaging is a necessity to many industries especially when the transportation of goods is involved. Many industries strive towards optimization and hence, it is important to either continue to improve the performance of existing packaging materials or to discover new resources. One potential resource that has yet to be explored is the natural fibre of durian shells. This is motivated from the intactness of the durian fruits despite them dropping from heights of up to 50 metres when they are ripe. Hence, the purpose of this study is to investigate the energy absorption capabilities of durian shells and determine whether they are a suitable source of packaging materials. The durian is first investigated as a whole and subsequently in their individual components mainly the thorns and its mesocarp. The durian shell properties such as its toughness, density and specific energy absorbed were calculated from the quasi static compression tests. The thorns were subjected to axial compression loadings whereas the mesocarp samples were subjected to both lateral and axial loadings. It was concluded that the thorns had a minimum impact on energy absorption as compared to its mesocarp counterpart. Also, the alignment of the fibres in the mesocarp was parallel to the axial direction of loading and hence it absorbed more energy in the axial direction. The mesocarp samples were also subjected to heat treatment to investigate any change in properties and it was found that the mesocarp samples lose their turgidity and toughness when dried. Also, in general, the capabilities of energy absorption increased with an increase in volume, ceteris paribus. However, these conclusions might not be comprehensive enough as the samples tested were mere small cut outs of the entire shell and it might not represent the properties of the entire durian accurately. This is because it is believed that its spherical structure that encompasses the entire fruit plays a significant role in absorbing energy and thus it will be inaccurate to extrapolate it directly to its full volume. Bachelor of Engineering 2016-05-30T01:44:06Z 2016-05-30T01:44:06Z 2016 Final Year Project (FYP) http://hdl.handle.net/10356/68600 en Nanyang Technological University 60 p. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic DRNTU::Engineering
spellingShingle DRNTU::Engineering
Niew, Yan Ling
Mechanical properties of a tropical fruit
description Packaging is a necessity to many industries especially when the transportation of goods is involved. Many industries strive towards optimization and hence, it is important to either continue to improve the performance of existing packaging materials or to discover new resources. One potential resource that has yet to be explored is the natural fibre of durian shells. This is motivated from the intactness of the durian fruits despite them dropping from heights of up to 50 metres when they are ripe. Hence, the purpose of this study is to investigate the energy absorption capabilities of durian shells and determine whether they are a suitable source of packaging materials. The durian is first investigated as a whole and subsequently in their individual components mainly the thorns and its mesocarp. The durian shell properties such as its toughness, density and specific energy absorbed were calculated from the quasi static compression tests. The thorns were subjected to axial compression loadings whereas the mesocarp samples were subjected to both lateral and axial loadings. It was concluded that the thorns had a minimum impact on energy absorption as compared to its mesocarp counterpart. Also, the alignment of the fibres in the mesocarp was parallel to the axial direction of loading and hence it absorbed more energy in the axial direction. The mesocarp samples were also subjected to heat treatment to investigate any change in properties and it was found that the mesocarp samples lose their turgidity and toughness when dried. Also, in general, the capabilities of energy absorption increased with an increase in volume, ceteris paribus. However, these conclusions might not be comprehensive enough as the samples tested were mere small cut outs of the entire shell and it might not represent the properties of the entire durian accurately. This is because it is believed that its spherical structure that encompasses the entire fruit plays a significant role in absorbing energy and thus it will be inaccurate to extrapolate it directly to its full volume.
author2 Shu Dong Wei
author_facet Shu Dong Wei
Niew, Yan Ling
format Final Year Project
author Niew, Yan Ling
author_sort Niew, Yan Ling
title Mechanical properties of a tropical fruit
title_short Mechanical properties of a tropical fruit
title_full Mechanical properties of a tropical fruit
title_fullStr Mechanical properties of a tropical fruit
title_full_unstemmed Mechanical properties of a tropical fruit
title_sort mechanical properties of a tropical fruit
publishDate 2016
url http://hdl.handle.net/10356/68600
_version_ 1759856305735991296