Thermomechanical properties of glassy cereal foods

The main objective of this paper is to discuss the relationship between physical state, fracture mechanism, and texture for low moisture cereal-based foods. Experiments were also carried out to get a better understanding of the role of water. At room temperature, extruded bread and white bread (previously) dehydrated, then rehydrated in atmospheres with controlled humidities) exhibited a brittle behavior up to around 9% moisture. At 13.7% moisture, they were ductile. A significant loss in the crispness of extruded bread was observed between 8.5 and 10% moisture. The glass transition temperature (T-g) was measured, using dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA), for samples with up to 40% moisture. The resulting T-g curve showed that the important changes in fracture mechanisms and crispness occurred while the samples were still in the glassy state. The viscoelastic behavior of both extruded and white breads suggested that a secondary relaxation occurred around 10 degrees C, Another event was observed around 70 degrees C for low moisture sample, using DMTA. This event was attributed to disruption of low energy interactions.