Rheological behavior of crystallizing palm oil

Abstract

The static isothermal crystallization of palm oil was studied by oscillatory rheology. The phase angle, complex modulus, storage modulus and loss modulus were followed as a function of the crystallization time. Various crystallization temperatures were applied, and the results obtained by oscillatory rheology were compared with crystallization data obtained by more classical techniques like differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and pulsed nuclear magnetic resonance (pNMR). It was shown that oscillatory rheology is a valuable complementary method to DSC and pNMR to evaluate primary crystallization. Like DSC and pNMR, oscillatory rheology is capable of differentiating whether crystallization occurs in a two-stage or a single-stage process. In addition, oscillatory measurements also allow the evaluation of aggregation, network formation and post-hardening events like sintering and thus provide information on the crystal network and the final macroscopic properties of the crystallized sample.