Effect of Deformation Rate and Moisture Content on the Mechanical Properties of Rice Grains

To predict the cracking of rice grains during drying and subsequent storage, information must be available aboutmechanical strength and Youngs modulus. In this work, experimental results are presented on Youngs modulus, the tensilestrength and the compressive strength of rice grains as a function of strain rate, and moisture content at 20
C. Youngs modulusand compressive strength decrease with decreasing strain rate and reach a constant value at a strain rate of 7.1  10 3 min 1 .This value is higher than the local strain rates during drying at 20
C, so that during the modeling of the drying process themechanical properties can be assumed to be rateindependent. At moisture contents of 8.87% (w.b.) and below, the valuesof Youngs modulus and the tensile and compressive strength are not significantly different from each other (
= 5%), whileat moisture contents of 8.87% (w.b.) and higher, they decline with moisture content.