Fracture energy during slicing of frozen meat by a vibrating knife

Abstract

The force, and hence fracture energy, required to cut horse quadriceps muscle, using a knife which was vibrated in the direction of material feed, were measured over a range of temperatures (−1.5 to −32.5 °C), vibration frequencies (no vibration and 1 to 1000 Hz), accelerations (0.073 to 75 m s −2), thicknesses (0 to 40 μm off-cut), and direction to the muscle grain. High vibration accelerations (75 m s −2) resulted in reduction of the cutting force; the reduction was independent of the off-cut thicknesses and resulted from lowering the coefficient of friction between the vibrating blade and the frozen meat. Rows of ice formed by the blade showed that pressure melting of the ice around the cutting region occurred during cutting and suggested that a hydrodynamic lubricating layer of water reduced the friction of the vibrating blade.