The rheological properties of Turkish delight

Abstract

In the food industry, rheological properties, such as viscosity, shear rate, and shear stress, are the most important parameters required in the design of a technological process. Therefore, in this study, we determined the flow behavior and the time-dependent flow properties of Turkish Delight (TD) in the temperature range of 25-75 degrees C using a capillar rheometer. The structure and thermal properties of TD were investigated by XRD and a simultaneous DTA/TG analysis. The shear rate values ranged from 5 to 300s(-1). We found that: (i) TD behaved as non-Newtonian pseudoplastic foodstuff; (ii) while the measurement temperature increased, viscosity decreased; and (iii) TD was a rheopectic material. The effect of temperature on viscosity was described by means of the Arrhenius equation. The activation energies for the flow of pseudoplastic TD varied from 50.1-74.2 kJ/mol, depending on shear rate. Three models were used to predict the flow behavior of TD, namely, the Power law, Bingham and Casson models. The Power law model adequately described well the flow behavior of TD at different temperatures.