Biomechanical imaging study reveals 3D strain and failure dynamics in compressed apple tissue, indicating how cellular microstructure governs macroscopic deformation.
Key Points
To quantify internal three-dimensional strain and failure dynamics in apple cortex tissue under compression and establish how cellular microstructure dictates macroscopic mechanical behavior.
Conducted in-situ continuous 4D X-ray computed tomography (XCT) paired with digital volume correlation (DVC) during tissue compression.
Introduced a dimensionless microstructural metric (Mi) incorporating cell wall thickness, average cell interfacial contact area, cell volume, and tissue porosity across maturation stages.
Tissue softening during maturation closely tracked decreasing Mi values, directly linking microstructure to reductions in effective Young's modulus, peak stress, and fracture toughness.