STRESS-STRAIN RELATION OF COMPRESSIVE SOLKA FLOC CAKES

Many foods are processed by grinding mashing, and mixing into slurry form. Frequently these materials are filtered, extruded, and molded. When these materials are stressed by compression or by filtering, the material structure deforms. When the material is washed by pumping a liquid through a cake the drag force of the moving liquid further deforms the material structure. The structural deformation results in an increased pressure drop and makes equipment design difficult. To improve predictability, a continuum theory is presented here with constitutive relations which characterize the compressive nature of the solid matrix. Experimental results are given here for an example application to cake filtration of cellulose fibers.