Abstract
In this work, the deformation behaviour of cereal grains is addressed as a very important physical property reflecting the grain quality. Deformation curves are a graphical measure of mechanical properties and therefore are often used to classify the cereal grains.
Up to now, only a limited work has been done to examine the grain quality related to elastic or viscoelastic properties. A method for simultaneous measurements of grain deformation and acoustic emission (AE) data is proposed here, as the AE technique provides information about dynamic processes involved in the deformation and failure of tested materials.
A specialized measurement set-up, which has been developed, is presented. First results revealing clear correlations between the load drops and the AE data are shown.
Possible applications of this new method in the field of cereal grain quality evaluation are also discussed.