Analysis of the Impact of Mechanical Deformation on Strawberries Harvested from the Farm

Abstract

When fresh strawberry fruit are mechanically handled, they are very susceptible to damage. In order to stop this macro-damage of the fruit caused due to external factors and in order to determine reason for textural failure mechanics and evolution of the tissue, they are characterized using the un/loading test at various speeds of compression. Structural failure, local plastic and elastic are the three stages of deformation observed from the strawberry fruit. Based on the compression speed and direction of loading, determine the cut-off points and this is further validated with the use of visual change of colour in the fruit. Based on the observation, it was found that both compression speed as well as loading direction determined absorbed energy as well as peak force while damaged mass percentage was due to only loading direction. Observed results are recorded and the average failure energy, strain and stress of the fruit’s inner tissue are evaluated to determine the effect of external mechanical damage.