Journal of Food Engineering 147 (2015) 4955

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Journal of Food Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

Ultrasonic determination of mechanical properties of meat products

Konrad W. Nowak a,, Marek Markowski a, Tomasz Daszkiewicz b
a
Department of Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, 10-719 Olsztyn, Oczapowskiego 2, Poland
b
Department of Commodity Science and Animal Raw Material Processing, Faculty of Animal Bioengineering, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, 10-719
Olsztyn, Oczapowskiego 2, Poland

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Youngs modulus and Poissons ratio values were determined for selected pork coldcuts (canned ham and
Received 15 May 2014 Podwawelska sausage) based on measurements of sound velocity and the attenuation coefcient in
Received in revised form 25 August 2014 samples, the results of compression tests and sample density measurements. All measurements were
Accepted 10 September 2014
performed at 5 C and 20 1 C. Poissons ratio for the analyzed products was determined at the indicated
Available online 28 September 2014
temperature based on the measured acoustic parameters, sample density and the value of Youngs
modulus calculated in mechanical tests. The average value of Poissons ratio was determined 0.49999,
Keywords:
and it was similar to the values cited by other authors. The average Poissons ratio and the results of
Meat products
Mechanical properties
ultrasonic measurements were used to calculate Youngs modulus. At 5 C, the average Youngs modulus
Ultrasound values for canned ham and Podwawelska sausage were determined at 185.3 and 148.2 kPa, respectively,
Poissons ratio in the compression test, and at 193.1 and 145.4 kPa, respectively, in ultrasonic measurements. At 20 C,
Youngs modulus the above values were determined at 151.4 and 99.9 kPa, and at 147.2 and 86.1 kPa, respectively. Youngs
modulus values calculated based on acoustic measurements did not differ signicantly from the values
determined based on the results of mechanical tests.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction properties are identical regardless of the direction of measurement

The quality of meat and meat products is largely determined by
the rheological properties of raw materials, in particular texture.
Texture incorporates various properties that determine tenderness,
a sensory attribute of meat that is most highly valued by the
consumers (Bekhit et al., 2014; Boleman et al., 1997). In practice,
product tenderness is predicted based on the results of mechanical
tests.
Meat is a non-homogeneous and anisotropic material, and the
properties of its structural elements are not always consistent with
the overall mechanical properties of tissues (Lepetit and Culioli,
1994). Meat products, including coarse-ground and medium-
ground sausage and meat blocks, contain many additives, such as
emulsiers, preservatives, spices, fat and plant materials that differ
in their physicochemical properties. The non-homogeneous
character of such mixtures poses one of the greatest problems in
determinations of the sensory attributes of meat products.
Products that combine ingredients representing various fractions,
including fractions with anisotropic particles (meat), can be
regarded as isotropic materials because on the macro scale, their
Corresponding author. Tel.: +48 89 523 4940; fax: +48 89 523 4469.
E-mail address: konrad.nowak@uwm.edu.pl (K.W. Nowak).
(Lu and Chen, 1998). If a material sample is sufciently large, i.e. if
its smallest dimension, such as the diameter, is signicantly larger
than the dimensions of the largest particle of the mixture that
makes up the sample, it can be regarded as a homogeneous sample
with effective physicochemical properties averaged for the bulk of
the sample. This approach is used to determine the mechanical
properties of solid foods, including meat products (Del Nobile
et al., 2007; Yilmaz et al., 2012).
The majority of food products, including meat and meat prod-
ucts, demonstrate both elastic and viscous properties in mechani-
cal tests. Until recently, the mechanical properties of meat
products were determined mainly by destructive methods with
the use of Maxwell and Burgers models (Andrs et al., 2008;
Bruno and Moresi, 2004; Campus et al., 2010; Chattong and
Apichartsrangkoon, 2009; Dolz et al., 2008; Karaman et al., 2011;
Kuo et al., 2000; Myhan et al., 2012). The use of mechanical tests
in determinations of the rheological properties of meat products
requires time-consuming measurements. Rapid non-destructive
methods, such as vision inspection, magnetic resonance imaging
and ultrasonic measurements, pose an effective alternative to the
above.
The use of rapid, non-destructive methods in analyses of
the mechanical properties of food products, including Youngs

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2014.09.024
0260-8774/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
50 K.W. Nowak et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 147 (2015) 4955
Notation
A amplitude of registered ultrasonic signal, mV
a coordinate describing the state of equilibrium, m
d sample thickness, m
Ec Youngs modulus determined based on the results of the
compression test, Pa
Eu Youngs modulus determined based on ultrasonic mea-
surements, Pa
K bulk modulus: K = (bad)1, Pa
mA, mW sample weight measured in air and water, respectively,
kg
r retardation coefcient, s
t temperature, C
T dynamic stress, Pa
x coordinate describing the direction of wave propaga-
tion, m
modulus and Poissons ratio, continues to attract the interest of
researchers and food producers. Tao and Peng (2014) used hyper-
spectral imaging techniques in an analysis of meat tenderness. Low
intensity ultrasound is one of the most frequently investigated
method (Kundu, 2004; Lepetit and Culioli, 1994; Llull et al.,
2002a, b; McClements and Gunasekaran, 1997). The majority of
studies analyzing the above technique focused only on the correla-
tions between the results of mechanical tests of biological materi-
als and acoustic parameters describing those materials (Ayadi
et al., 2007; Nielsen et al.,1998). Some authors relied on mathemat-
ical formulas relating to the propagation of acoustic waves through
an elastic medium (Ross et al., 2006). In the latter method, elastic
strain resulting from external force applied to a material can be
determined based on Lam constants, k and l, which can also be
expressed in terms of Youngs modulus and Poissons ratio
(Kundu, 2004; Righetti et al., 2003). Selected studies incorporated
both approaches to analyze the mechanical properties of food
products (Llull et al., 2002a, b). Chen et al. (1996) and Glozman
and Azhari (2010) investigated the correlations between the acous-
tic and mechanical properties of soft biological materials by relying
on the theory of acoustic wave propagation in an elastic continu-
ous medium.
Recent years have witnessed the emergence of two research
methods: magnetic resonance elastography (MRE), which is based
on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and tracks mechanical wave
propagation in a product, and transient supersonic shearwave
propagation (SWP) (Bercoff et al., 2004; Damez and Clerjon,
2013; Gruwel et al., 2010; Sapin-de Brosses et al., 2010). Both tech-
niques support non-destructive determination of the viscoelastic
properties of soft tissues, and they are applied mainly in medical
diagnosis. MRE and SWP are also used to analyze the mechanical
properties of food products, including meat (Budelli et al., 2014;
Gruwel et al., 2010; Sapin-de Brosses et al., 2010). The discussed
methods are relatively expensive they require highly qualied
personnel, specialist equipment and software.
A different, simplied approach often used in practice is based
on the assumption that the attenuation of sound waves traveling
through meat and meat products is negligibly small. In such a case,
the propagation of acoustic waves in a material can be described
with sufcient accuracy based on the theory of elastic and lossless
continuous media. In such media, sound waves are propagated
without the loss of mechanical energy. Several studies (Bamber
and Hill, 1979; Chivers and Parry, 1978; Nowak and Markowski,
2013) have demonstrated that meat and meat products attenuate
sound waves, therefore, they should be regarded as lossy media
where energy is signicantly dissipated and acoustic waves are
Greek symbols
a acoustic attenuation coefcient, m1
bad adiabatic bulk modulus, Pa1
g1, g2 shear viscosity, volume viscosity, kg m1 s1
l Lam constant, Pa
k Lam constant, Pa
n displacement relative to equilibrium state, m
q density of a laminar medium, kg m3
s time, ls
m Poissons ratio
x wave frequency, Hz
attenuated. The above considerations point to the need for a
simplied method of estimating the mechanical properties of meat
and meat products based on non-destructive acoustic techniques
and the theory of acoustic wave propagation in viscoelastic lossy
media.
The objective of this study was to estimate Youngs modulus
and Poissons ratio of selected meat products based on ultrasonic
measurements and the theory of acoustic wave propagation in a
lossy medium. The correlations between ultrasonic (sound velocity
and attenuation coefcient) and mechanical parameters (Youngs
modulus and Poissons ratio) of a material were analyzed. The
advantage of this approach is that it takes into account not only
the elastic, but also the viscous properties of meat products, which
is rarely observed in other published studies (Chen et al.,1996; Llull
et al., 2002a, b; Ross et al., 2006; Glozman and Azhari 2010). The
mechanical parameters of the tested materials were described the-
oretically based on ultrasonic measurements, and Poissons ratio
was calculated for selected meat products based on the results of
acoustic and mechanical tests. Poissons ratio and ultrasonic mea-
surements describing one batch of meat products were used to cal-
culate Youngs modulus for the second batch of the same products.
The obtained values were compared with the results of mechanical
tests performed on the same batch of products.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Theory
The movement of an acoustic particle in a at longitudinal wave
propagating in a viscoelastic medium in the direction of the x axis
can be described with the use of the below formula (Landau and
Lifshitz, 1986):
@ 2 n @T
q 1
@ s2 @x
where the correlation between coordinate a, which describes the
equilibrium state of the acoustic particle, particle displacement n
from the state of equilibrium and the particles current location
described by coordinate x is given by the following Eq. (2):
x an 2
It has been assumed that stress at any point of a viscoelastic med-
ium is the sum of elastic and viscous stress (Landau and Lifshitz,
1986). The displacement of points in the analyzed medium caused
by the propagation of low-amplitude sound waves in the direction
 K.W. Nowak et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 147 (2015) 4955 51

of the x axis was regarded as small. The above assumptions indicate 1  2m  1 m

EK 14
that elastic stress is proportional to strain (Hookes law) and that 1m
viscous stress is proportional to the local strain rate (Newtons Eq. (14) can be regarded as a semi-empirical model that can be used
law). Stress caused by elastic and viscous forces during the propaga- to determine Youngs modulus, E, based solely on acoustic
tion of a at longitudinal wave in the direction of the x axis can be parameters, density of a non-excited medium and Poissons ratio.
written as (Costa et al., 1997; Sliwinski, 2001): Eq. (14) can be easily transformed into Eq. (15):
   
@n @2n E E
TK g 3 2  m2 1  m 1 0 15
@x @x@ s K K
Eq. (1) takes on the following form (4): If K > E, which is the case in meat and meat products, then the
2 2 3 algebraic formula (15) has one non-negative real root, m1, described
@ n @ n @ n
q K 2g 2 4 by formula (16):
@ s2 @x @x @ s
p
2
where g = g2 + 4g1/3 is longitudinal dynamic viscosity. The rheolog- k k 8k E
ical equation of motion (4) describes the propagation of a at longi-
m1 ; k1 16
4 K
tudinal wave in a medium characterized by the Kelvin-Voigt model.
Formula (16) can be used to calculate Poissons ratio, m, based on
Eq. (4) was solved with the use of formula (5):
Youngs modulus, E, and bulk modulus, K, which was derived from
nx; t nt expixt 5 the ultrasonic measurements.
Expression (5) was inserted into Eq. (4), and the following system of
2.2. Materials
equations was produced after transformation (Kinsler et al., 1982;
Sliwinski, 2001):
The experimental material comprised canned ham and
x2 2 x2 q 1 Podwawelska sausage made from pork meat in the same
a  6
c2 1 x2 r 2 K processing plant. The chemical composition of the analyzed
x xq xr 2 products stated on the label is presented in Table 1. The experi-
2a  7 ment was performed on products from two independent batches
c K 1 x2 r 2
(in two series). The results of series 1 tests were used to determine
where Poissons ratio, and the results of series 2 tests to compare
g Youngs modulus values determined based on acoustic measure-
r 8 ments with the values determined based on the results of
K
mechanical tests, Ec.
The left and right sides of Eq. (6) were divided by the left and right
The samples for ultrasonic measurements were slices with a
sides of Eq. (7), respectively, and Eq. (8) was expressed as formula
thickness of 10 2 and 20 2 mm. Mechanical tests and density
(9) describing the relationship between the retardation factor, r,
analyses were performed on cylindrical samples with a height of
vs. sound attenuation and sound propagation velocity in a medium
15 1 mm and a diameter of 19 1 mm, cut out with a cylindrical
and vs. sound wave frequency:
punch. All mechanical, ultrasonic and density measurements were
2ca conducted at 5 1 C (storage temperature) and 20 1 C
r 9
x2  a2 c2 (consumption temperature).
Eq. (9) was inserted into formula (7) and transformed to produce
Eq. (10) for calculating the bulk modulus, K, of the medium based 2.3. Methods
solely on its acoustic properties and density.
2.3.1. Ultrasonic measurements
c2 qx Ultrasonic measurements were performed by the through-
K 10
x2  a2 c2 2cax2 transmission (TT) technique in the experimental stand presented
Eqs. (6)(8) were transformed to produce formula (11) describing in Fig. 1. The experimental equipment included the OPBOX 2.0
sound velocity in a viscoelastic medium. (PBP Optel, Poland) ultrasound generator/receiver and a pair of
v ultrasound transducers (PBP Optel) with nominal frequency of
s u  
u21 x2 r2  p1 x

2 r2  1 2 MHz. One transducer (bottom) was mounted on an immobilized
K t
c  11 platform, and the other (top) was assembled on a movable arm.
q x2 r 2 The distance between transducers was measured with the preci-
sion of 0.01 mm with an electronic caliper mounted into the
The propagation velocity of a at longitudinal wave in an elastic
experimental stand. Sound wave amplitude was measured with
medium is described by formula (12)(Landau and Lifshitz, 1986):
s the precision of 4 mV, and the precision of time measurements
E 1m was 0.01 ls.
c  12 Ultrasonic measurements were performed in all product sam-
q 1  2m  1 m
ples at storage temperature (5 1 C) and room temperature
During the propagation of a at longitudinal wave in a biological (20 1 C). Temperature was controlled with the EMT-50 elec-
material, elastic stress caused by vibrating medium particles is gen- tronic thermometer (CzakiThermo Product, Poland), which was
erally much greater than viscous stress, and the following relation- calibrated before the experiment.
ship holds true: Sound velocity, c, and attenuation coefcient, a, were deter-
mined based on ultrasound propagation time in product samples
xr 1 13
at a given temperature. Sound velocity was calculated with the
The right sides of Eqs. (11) and (12) were compared, and use of formula (17) and the differential method described by
dependency (13) was used to perform simple transformations and Nowak and Markowski (2013) where acoustic signals are passed
produce the following formula: through samples with two different thicknesses:
52 K.W. Nowak et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 147 (2015) 4955

Table 1
Product composition listed on the label.

Product Description Composition

Canned ham Pork ham, cooked Pork meat (65%), water, dextrose, salt, E1422 modied starch, soy protein concentrate, E451i stabilizer, E407a,
E415, E417 thickeners, spices, E301, E316 antioxidants, E508 acidity regulator, E250 preservative
Podwawelska Pork sausage, medium-ground, Pork meat (80%), water, salt, soy protein concentrate, textured wheat our, sugar, spices, E451i, E452i
sausage cured, cooked stabilizers, E316 antioxidant, E621 avor enhancer, E250 preservative

If the amplitude of a wave decreases from A1 to A2 between points

x1 and x2, then well-known formula (18) can be used to calculate
the acoustic attenuation coefcient in a sample:

1 A1
a ln 18
d2  d1 A2

2.3.2. Density
Product density, q, was determined by the hydrostatic method
by weighing the sample in air and in demineralized water. Mea-
surements were performed within the indicated temperature
ranges, in 20 replications per product.

2.3.3. Mechanical properties

Fig. 1. Experimental stand: 1 OPBOX 2.0, 2 PC, 3 electronic thermometer, 4
platform, 5 xed acoustic transducer, 6 sample, 7 movable acoustic
transducer, 8 electronic caliper.
d2  d1
c 17
s2  s1
where d1 and s1 represent the distance between transducers (sam-
ple thickness) and timing of the maximum amplitude, respectively,
for the thinner sample, and d2 and s2 are the corresponding param-
eters for the thicker sample.
Lossy media attenuate acoustic waves. The amplitude attenua-
tion coefcient is dened as the relative reduction in the amplitude
of a sound wave as a function of the distance traveled by that wave.
Youngs modulus, E, was determined experimentally by axial
compression in the TA HD plus texture analyzer (Stable Microsys-
tems Ltd., UK). The test was performed in 10 replications for every
analyzed product, at 5 1 C and 20 1 C. Youngs modulus, Ec,
was calculated in a linear regression analysis for the initial phase
of the stress diagram as a function of relative strain (below 5%)
based on the results of compression tests of the rst product batch.
Bulk modulus, K, was calculated with the use of formula (10) based
on sound attenuation and sound propagation values in a sample
and material density. The calculated values of K and Ec were used
to determine Poissons ratio, m, with the application of formula
(16). Bulk modulus, K, was calculated based on ultrasonic measure-
ments of the second product batch. The values of K and m were used
to determine Youngs modulus, Eu.
2.3.4. Chemical composition of meat products
A proximate analysis of meat products involved the determina-
tion of dry matter content, total protein content by the Kjeldahl
method, fat content by Soxhlet extraction (diethyl ether solvent)
and ash content (AOAC, 1990). Hydroxyproline levels were deter-
mined as a rough index of collagen content by multiplying
hydroxyproline concentrations by 8.
2.3.5. Statistical analysis
The results were processed by one-way ANOVA in the Statistica
10 application (Statsoft Inc., USA). The signicance of differences
between sample means was determined by the nonparametric
KruskalWallis test at p 6 0.05. The results of density measurements,

Table 2
Results of acoustic and mechanical measurements of batch 1 products (series 1) average values (standard deviation values are given in parentheses).

Product Temperature t (C) q (kg/m3) c (m/s) a (1/m) K (MPa) g (Pa s) Ec (kPa) m ()

Canned ham 5 1081.5A 1541.6A 20.8A 2568.2 41.3 198.7A 0.4999874A
(4.0) (12.45) (8.14) (39.5) (16.3) (38.2) (2.5  106)
Canned ham 20 1075.2A 1589.9B 28.1A 2713.2 60.6 151.4A 0.4999902B
(4.2) (7.19) (10.57) (29.3) (22.6) (23.0) (2.2  106)
Podwawelska sausage 5 1057.5B 1567.8C 56.8B 2582.9 115.4 156.6A 0.4999897C
(9.2) (14.59) (17.63) (57.4) (36.4) (50.5) (2.5  106)
Podwawelska sausage 20 1055.0B 1588.1B 76.2 B 2629.3 160.1 99.9 B 0.4999938D
(9.1) (15.64) (21.7) (48.8) (46.9) (22.1) (12  106)

Values in the same column marked with different letters are statistically different (p 6 0.05).
 K.W. Nowak et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 147 (2015) 4955 53

Table 3
Results of acoustic and mechanical measurements of batch 2 products (series 2 verication) average values (standard deviation values are given in parentheses).

Product Temperature t (C) q (kg/m3) c (m/s) a (1/m) K (MPa) g (Pa s) Ec (kPa) Eu (kPa)
A A A A
Canned ham 5 1056.2 1542.9 26.4 2500.3 50.9 185.3 193.1A
(11.4) (10.8) (4.8) (35.3) (9.0) (37.7) (2.7)
Canned ham 20 1051.6A 1583.6B 28.7A 2633.1 59.9 164.0A 147.2B
(12.8) (9.2) (5.3) (30.2) (11.3) (43.8) (1.7)
Podwawelska sausage 5 1032.5B 1601.1B 226.4B 2389.5 446.5 148.2 A 145.4B
(7.2) (33.8) (30.4) (121.4) (53.0) (16.2) (1.4)
Podwawelska sausage 20 1028.8B 1550.8A 222.6B 2260.1 402.1 81.3 B 86.1C
(6.9) (30.6) (33.6) (93.3) (61.0) (10.9) (3.6)

Values in the same column marked with different letters are statistically different (p 6 0.05).

sound velocity measurements, attenuation coefcient, Youngs

modulus and Poissons ratio were compared.
Canned ham:
240

3. Results and discussion 220

Density, q, sound velocity, c, attenuation coefcient, a, Youngs 200

Young's modulus [kPa]

modulus calculated based on the results of the mechanical test, Ec,
bulk modulus, K, dynamic viscosity, g, and Poissons ratio, m, are 180
presented in Table 2. The above parameters were determined for
meat products from the rst batch of the analyzed material (series 160
1). As expected, Poissons ratio, m, was similar for both products at a
temperature of 5 C and 20 C, and it was estimated as close to 0.5 140
(Chen et al. 1996). Similar results were noted by Glozman and
Azhari (2010) who relied on ultrasonic measurements, but used a 120
different method to analyze pork fat, turkey breast muscles and
beef liver. Signicant differences (p 6 0.05) were reported between 100
the average values of Poissons ratio for the tested meat products. Ec Eu Ec Eu
Temperature signicantly inuenced the Poissons ratio of both o o
products. 5C 20 C
Density, q, sound velocity, c, attenuation coefcient, a, Youngs
modulus calculated based on the results of the mechanical test, Ec, Podwawelska sausage:
bulk modulus, K, dynamic viscosity, g, and Youngs modulus deter- 180
mined based on acoustic measurements, Eu, are presented in
Table 3. The above parameters were determined for meat products 160
from the second batch of the analyzed material (series 2 verica-
tion). Poissons ratio values are not shown in Table 3 because
Young's modulus [kPa]

Youngs modulus, Eu, was calculated based on Poissons ratio for 140
series 1 products (Table 2).
The values of Youngs modulus calculated based on the results 120
of the compression test, Ec, and based on acoustic measurements,
Eu, at both tested temperatures are compared in Fig. 2. The average
100
values of Youngs modulus calculated with the use of both methods
are similar. Youngs modulus values determined in mechanical
tests were widely distributed, whereas the values determined 80
based on ultrasonic measurements were narrowly distributed.
The above implies that the value of Youngs modulus calculated
60
based on the results of a single compression test can diverge signif- Ec Eu Ec Eu
icantly from the value determined in acoustic measurements
o o
despite the fact that the average from several mechanical tests 5C 20 C
remains similar to the latter value. Relatively high standard devia-
Fig. 2. A comparison of Youngs modulus values determined based on the results of
tion of Youngs modulus determined based on the results of compression tests (Ec) and ultrasonic measurements (Eu) for canned ham and
mechanical tests could be attributed to the non-homogeneous Podwawelska sausage at storage temperature (5 C) and room temperature (20 C).
character of the analyzed material or differences between samples
resulting from the cutting process. It should also be noted that the
average Poissons ratio for a given product at a given temperature determined with high accuracy for a given product or a tissue at
was used to calculate Youngs modulus based on ultrasonic mea- a given temperature to ensure a satisfactory degree of accuracy
surements. A preliminary sensitivity analysis of the model (14) of the average Youngs modulus. Therefore, the use of an approxi-
used to calculate Youngs modulus based on acoustic measure- mate value of Poissons ratio (e.g. 0.5 or even 0.49) to determine
ments, Eu, revealed that the model was most sensitive to changes Youngs modulus by the acoustic method is not justied.
in Poissons ratio. A change in the value of Poissons ratio by No signicant differences (p 6 0.05) were noted between the
1  106 led to an average change of 15 kPa in Youngs modulus. average Youngs modulus values determined with the use of both
The above observation suggests that Poissons ratio has to be methods (Ec and Eu) for each product at a given temperature. The
54 K.W. Nowak et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 147 (2015) 4955
Table 4
Proximate chemical composition of the analyzed products.
Product Water Fat Protein Ash Collagen
xW (%) xF (%) xP (%) xA (%) xC (%)
Canned ham 75.58 3.26 15.71 3.47 0.58
Podwawelska sausage 61.43 18.08 12.81 3.21 1.23
above implies that if Poissons ratio is determined with sufcient
accuracy, the method of calculating Youngs modulus based on
acoustic measurements produces satisfactory results.
The remaining analyses investigating the signicance of differ-
ences between the values of density, q, sound velocity, c, attenua-
tion coefcient, a, and Youngs modulus calculated based on the
results of the compression test, Ec, revealed that canned ham was
characterized by higher (p 6 0.05) density and lower (p 6 0.05)
attenuation coefcient than Podwawelska sausage regardless of
temperature (Tables 2 and 3). The above differences resulted from
variations in the analyzed products fat content (Table 4) because
fat is the least dense component of meat and meat products. Fat
consistency changes with an increase in temperature, which
lowers the materials elasticity. In this experiment, the average
Youngs modulus, Ec, of both products was higher at storage
temperature than at room temperature, and the noted difference
was statistically signicant for Podwawelska sausage in both
experimental series. Lower elasticity decreases the effectiveness
of propagation of mechanical vibrations, including sound waves,
and it increases the dissipation of acoustic wave energy.
The results of the performed measurements were used to calcu-
late dynamic viscosity (g), whose physical signicance and values
for the analyzed products cannot be determined unambiguously at
this stage. Dynamic viscosity is closely correlated with the
dissipation of sound wave energy, but further work is needed to
investigate this relationship in greater detail.
The applied method supports the determination of Youngs
modulus, Eu, of biological materials based on the results of acoustic
measurements, attenuation coefcient and density when at least
an approximate value of Poissons ratio for a given material is
known. If material density could be determined with a high degree
of precision based on acoustic impedance, Z, according to formula
(19) then Youngs modulus could be estimated based only on ultra-
sonic measurements, which would simplify the entire method and
the applied measurement equipment.
Z methods. J. Food Eng. 63 (3), 291298.
q 19
c
4. Conclusions
This study proposes a method for estimating Youngs modulus
for selected meat products based on known values of Poissons
ratio, and the acoustic properties of a medium. Both elastic and vis-
cous properties of meat products were taken into consideration.
The proposed method, which aims to determine the correlations
between acoustic and mechanical properties of biological materi-
als, relies on two known physical parameters to determine the
third parameter, where one of the known parameters is always cal-
culated based on ultrasonic measurements (K), and Youngs modu-
lus (when Poissons ratio is known) or Poissons ratio (when
Youngs modulus is known) are determined algebraically. The
applied method involves a semi-empirical equation derived on
the assumption that the propagation velocity of sound waves
through meat products determined based on the analyzed mate-
rials elastic properties is similar to the velocity determined based
on its viscoelastic properties.
The proposed method produces highly satisfactory results with
acceptable accuracy. The generated outcomes coincide with the
results of mechanical tests and correctly identify the differences
in the properties of the analyzed meat products resulting from
variations in their chemical composition and internal structure.
In the future, the discussed method should be used in rapid and
non-destructive tests evaluating the mechanical properties of meat
products and other biological materials. The development of a
rapid technique for measuring product density based on acoustic
impedance will contribute to the proposed methods popularity.
The results of this study clearly indicate that high accuracy of
determination of Poissons ratio is crucial for achieving acceptable
accuracy of Youngs modulus derived with the use of the presented
method. Therefore, the value of Poissons ratio, determined with
the use of the described method, should be compared with the val-
ues calculated based on a samples longitudinal and transverse
deformation during a compression test. The results of this study
constitute valuable inputs for further analyses into the correlations
between the density, acoustic properties and mechanical proper-
ties of biological materials.
Acknowledgement
This study was supported by Grant N N313 789140 from the
Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
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