Some physical and mechanical properties of squash for cutting head processing

Knowledge of physical and mechanical properties of agricultural products، such as vegetables، is needed for their processing. The objective of this study was to find the physical and mechanical properties of squash، related to head cutting process. The physical properties such as length، mass، headfirst diameters، head diameters، volume، density، sphericity and geometric mean diameter were determined. Material testing machine was used to measure mechanical properties by applying shear test on the sample. The experiments were carried out at three mass levels (m<95g، 95g120g)، loading speed of 50mm/min and loading direction (vertical to headfirst diameter direction) of preprocessing squash. Mechanical properties such as maximum force and energy of shear and bio-yield point were determined. Result of physical properties of squash showed that the averages of length، mass، volume، density، sphericity، headfirst diameters، head diameters and geometric mean diameter were 121. 34 mm، 110. 09 g، 110. 77 cm3، 994. 85 kg/m3، 48. 72، 25. 51mm، 37. 48 mm، 59. 05 mm، respectively. Result of mechanical properties showed that mass had significant effect on maximum shear force and energy. Moreover، the biggest squashes had the highest shear force and energy.