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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY


Volume 16, No. 01, Month JANUARY, Year 2020, Pages 63 - 76


A study on the mechanical characteristics of cassava tuber cutter

Lomchangkum, C., Junsiri, C., Sudajan, S. and Laloon, K.


Abstract Download PDF

The mechanical characteristics of cassava tuber cutter were determined the mechanical behaviour and its effect during shear cutting and evaluated variables (maximum cutting shear force, maximum cutting shear stress, specific cutting energy and amount of postcutting loss) using 4 cutting tilt angles (30°, 45°, 60° and 90°) and 4 cutting speeds (20, 40, 60 and 100 mm/min). These variables were set in order to provide basic information and guidelines to design the cutting blade of the cutting machine to separate cassava tuber from its rhizome. The cassava variety of Kasetsart 50 was tested with tuber ages of 10-12 months, planted in the area of Mueang district, Khon Kaen province. A universal testing machine with maximum force of 50 kN was operated. The test results indicated that the maximum cutting shear force and the maximum cutting shear stress increased with increasing tuber age which was due to the increase in density and starch content. The cutting tilt angle at 30° with the cutting speed at 100 mm/min provided the least values for the maximum cutting shear force, the maximum cutting shear stress and the specific cutting energy. For tubers aged 10, 11 and 12 months, the average maximum cutting shear forces were 1.61±0.61, 3.60±0.24 and 4.08±0.11 kN respectively, while the average maximum cutting shear stresses were 2.01±0.76, 7.20±0.12 and 8.17±2.97 MPa respectively and the average specific cutting energies were 24.74±15.56, 26.15±10.81 and 30.38±11.10 mJ/mm2 respectively. The amounts of post-cutting loss were slightly different within the range of 0.5-1% for different tuber ages.


Keywords

Cutting cassava tuber from rhizome, maximum cutting shear force, maximum cutting shear stress, specific cutting energy



INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY


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