Cereal Chem 49:684 - 696.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Moisture Adsorption Related to the Tensile Strength of Rice.

O. R. Kunze and M. S. U. Choudhury. Copyright 1972 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Investigations were conducted on the tensile strength of individual rice kernels at moisture-equilibrated conditions and also at certain intervals after the grains were exposed to a moisture-adsorbing environment. Retardation times (time required to obtain initial fissuring when kernels equilibrated at 74 F. and 44% relative humidity [r.h.] were suddenly exposed to 86 or 100% r.h. atmospheres at the same temperature) were dependent on variety, form of rice, and the amount of change in r.h. The rate of moisture adsorption depended on the form of rice and the r.h. change in the environment. Variations in tensile strength were large between individual kernels, but were small between average groups of like kernels. Within retardation time, the tensile strength was related to the time after exposure. Quadratic equations gave the best fit to these data. Hypothetical two-dimensional stress analyses for longitudinal sections of kernels were developed to give theoretical explanations of the observed behavior.