Modeling the mechanical properties of pasta cooked at different times

Abstract

The aim of this work was to develop a mathematical model describing the evolution of elastic modulus and tensile strength of spaghetti cooked at different times. The model exploits the theory of the mechanical behavior of long-fiber composites with perfect fiber–matrix adhesion. Specifically, the whole spaghetti sample is envisaged as composite material made of co-axial cylinders each of which with a specific elastic modulus, which is strongly dependent on local water concentration. The Weibull cumulative distribution function is used to describe the changes in the mechanical properties of each co-axial cylinder as related to the corresponding local water concentration. The proposed model has been tested on three semolina pasta samples and three non-conventional pasta samples, which included one whole meal semolina sample and two maize-based samples. The model satisfactorily describes the experimental data in terms of elastic modulus and tensile strength. Moreover, it is able to provide an insight on the dependence of pasta mechanical properties on water concentration.