Measuring ring tensile stress and strain of surimi gels using a novel ring tensile test with image analysis

A ring tensile test with image analysis to measure failure properties, such as failure ring tensile stress (sigma(f)) and strain (epsilon(f)), of surimi (Itoyori A grade) gels with varying moisture content (76-80%) was developed using Laplace's law. The novel approach was validated for different inside diameters and thicknesses. Digital image correlation (DIC) was used to identify the validity of Laplace's law. For normalization, Laplace's law was applied to eliminate the dependence of the width and inside diameter. The values of sigma(f) by thickness, including the zero point, was accurately described using linear regression analysis (r(2) > 0.99). This shows that sigma(f) can estimate the reference sigma(f) regardless of thickness. The values of sigma(f) of the ring specimen were best fit with a linear function to moisture content (r(2) > 0.94). The results of epsilon(f) for differing moisture content and thickness showed no significant differences (p < 0.05). (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.