Establishment of a new horizontal casting device and evaluation system for characterizing the homogeneity of food soft matter solution

Abstract

A non-destructive dynamic solution casting device with in-situ roundness calculation for evaluating the homogeneity of food soft matter solutions is designed. The Charge-Coupled Devices (CCD) camera takes pictures of solution casting while the roundness is calculated by image software. Homogeneous single-component solutions were casting on a horizontal casting disc. The optimal combination of device hardware was obtained as the overflow hole diameter of 4 mm, overflow hole depth of 2 mm, injection tube diameter of 2 mm and injection height of 8 mm. The volume of sample solution was determined as 50 mL, and the relative roundness error of casting solution could be controlled below 0.25% when casting on a 304 stainless steel disc polished by 7000 Cw sandpaper. Finally, solutions with different viscosities must be casting with casting tubes of different diameters was proved. This work provides fundamental information for future analyses of the compatibility of food soft matter solutions.