FOOD RHEOLOGY

Dr. Mukund V. Karwe

Dept. of Food Science, Rutgers University

Study of deformation and flow (no matter how unlikely)

“Everything flows…..”
Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus (536–470 BCE)

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 RHEOLOGY
Rheology is the study of the flow of materials.

Oil and water flow in familiar, normal ways, whereas mayonnaise, peanut
butter, chocolate, bread dough, and Silly Putty flow in complex and
unusual ways.

Rheology is the science of deformation and flow of matter when

external force is applied. Knowledge of rheology is important in pasta and
cereal production, bread/cake making, chocolate coating, making salad
dressing. How one perceives the texture of a food product in mouth also
depends upon the rheology of that product.
 Rheology defines the consistency of different food products

Consistency is described by two components

• the elasticity (springiness)
• the viscosity (thickness, lack of slipperiness)

Elasticity:
When force is applied on a spring - it elongates or gets compressed
When force is removed from spring - it goes back to its original shape

Similarly, there are food materials that show spring-like behavior and
are called elastic. Most solid food materials show some elasticity.
Examples: Gummy Bears, Bread dough, Chewing Gum
 Some food materials start to flow as a result of the external force
These materials such as water and air are called fluids and are associated
with a property called viscosity.

Viscosity represents the resistance of a fluid to flow. Some food

materials have relatively constant viscosity (e.g. air, water, honey, cooking
oil, apple juice) at a given temperature but are independent of the applied
force or the intensity of mixing. Such materials are called Newtonian.
There are many food materials that do not have a constant viscosity value.
The materials for which viscosity value decreases or increases, when more
and more external force is applied, are called non-Newtonian.
 Approximate Viscosity Values at 20 C (68 F)

Newtonian Materials
Air 0.00001 Pa.s
Water 0.001 Pa.s
Olive oil 0.1 Pa.s
Glycerin 1.0 Pa.s
Honey 10.0 Pa.s
Heavy Corn Syrup 100.0 Pa.s
Glass 1040 Pa.s
In other words, water is 100 times more viscous than air, olive oil is 100 times more
viscous than water, and honey is 100 times more viscous than olive oil. Therefore,
honey is million times more viscous than air.
Did you know that glass is a very viscous fluid?!!

Pa.s stands for pascal-seconds which is a unit of viscosity in the international system of units (SI).
 Additional Viscosity Data for Various Newtonian Materials
Material T( C)  (Pa.s)
Water 0 0.001787
" 20 0.001002
" 90 0.0003147
Mercury 20 0.001554
" 90 0.001268
Glycerin 20 1.49
" 25 0.954
" 30 0.629
Corn Oil 25 0.0565
Honey (Sweet Clover) 24.7 7.2
Milk, homogenized 20 0.002
Cream (30 % fat) 40 0.00395
Sucrose solution
20% 25 1.71
40% 25 5.206
60% 25 44.02
Corn Syrup (80 % dry substance) 26.7 126.0
Head & Shoulders Shampoo 25 4
Source: Rheological Methods in Food Process Engineering, James F. Steffe, 1996, second edition, Freeman Press, pp. 361-373.
Luckily, most of the food materials are such that their viscosity
decreases when subjected to a more vigorous application of
external force (chewing, spreading, kneading). These are called
shear-thinning materials.

Many of the cosmetic lotions and pastes are shear thinning: when
you rub them, they spread easily.
 Non-Newtonian Shear-thinning materials
(materials that become less viscous with more vigorous mixing or
stirring or chewing)

Melted chocolate
Apple Sauce
Banana Puree
Orange Juice
Peach Puree
Tomato Juice Conc.
Peanut Butter

Oil of Olay
Colgate Toothpaste
Vaseline Intensive Care Lotion
Nail enamel

Synthetic Polymers
Materials that simultaneously exhibit fluid-like (viscous) and solid-like
(elastic) behavior are called as viscoelastic. Examples of
viscoelastic food materials are chocolate brownie batter, peanut
butter, cream, and silly putty.
Have you wondered why the frosting on the sides of a
cake does not fall off?
This is mainly due to what is called as yield stress. Yield stress is the
minimum force that has to be applied to a material before it yields or
deforms. In the case of the frosting, the weight of the frosting is not enough
to overcome the yield stress and pull it off the cake. The lighter (foamier)
the frosting, the thicker the layer you can use before it begins to fall off.
Other examples of products that have yield stress are yogurt, chocolate
syrup, tomato ketchup and Jell-O.
 Contact area A

g
Cake L Frosting

Thickness 

 = 0 / (f g)

0 Yield Stress
f Density of frosting
g gravitational acceleration
 Experiments Demonstrating
Yield stress, Shear thinning, Viscoelastic behavior

YIELD STRESS
Make Jell-O and stir it with a rotating shaft or a mixer blade. You can also
use a kitchen hand mixer. Jell-O near the rotating shaft will rotate with the
shaft but the Jell-O away from the shaft will be stationary. We will then do
the same experiment with cooking oil which does not have any yield stress
and therefore, all of the oil in the container will start moving with the
rotating shaft. You can also try using applesauce or chocolate syrup and
see what happens.

SHEAR THINNING
Peanut butter at room temperature is a very viscous mass. Take some
peanut butter and stir it with the mixer blade. The longer and faster you stir,
the thinner the peanut butter becomes. This is due to the shear-thinning
effect of the material.
 SHEAR THICKENING
(viscosity increases as more and more force is applied)
Corn starch and cold water form a mixture that is called dilatant or shear
thickening. Mix cold water at room temperature and corn starch in 1:1
proportion. Mix it slowly with a thick glass rod or metal spoon. Let it sit for
about 20 minutes. Now try to gently stir the mix with the spoon, note how
much resistance you feel. Now try to stir it rapidly and note how much
resistance you feel.

How does this compare with peanut butter?

 Viscoelastic materials
(materials that behave like solid and liquid at the same time)

Filament test for viscoelasticity: Place a small amount of the

fluid in question between your thumb and index finger, and then
pull them apart. The fluid is viscoelastic if a filament forms.
Example: Pizza or bread dough

Source: Rheological Methods in Food Process Engineering, James F. Steffe, 1996, second edition,
Freeman Press, pp. 361-37
Viscous fluid Viscoelastic fluid

Weissenberg
effect

Tubeless
siphon

Die / Jet
swell
Example: Corn Syrup mostly consists of fructose, glucose and some
water. Corn syrup is a Newtonian liquid. When you add
carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), a long chain molecule derived from
cellulose (part of plants), to corn syrup, it becomes non-Newtonian, even
at small concentrations (< 1%). In fact it becomes viscoelastic.
 VISCOELASTIC EFFECT
Prepare chocolate brownie batter and stir with the mixer blade. You will
notice that the batter tries to climb on the rotating shaft, showing
viscoelastic behavior. This phenomenon is called as Wiessenberg
effect. This effect is very prominent when you use corn syrup mixed
with CMC (~3.0% w/w).
Demonstration of viscoelastic fluid:
Weissenberg (rod climbing) effect of Corn Syrup + 3% CMC

Material
climbs the
mixer shaft