Modeling Fracture and Cracking Resistance of Palm Nuts (Dura Variety)

Compressive strength of palm nuts (dura variety) was measured in terms of its fracture force and cracking force. The palm nuts under study were graded into categories of small size nuts (SSN), medium size nuts (MSN), and large size nuts (LSN). The means of principal dimensions were 19.2, 21.6, and 25.7 mm for minor diameter (MID), intermediate diameter (IND) and major diameter (MAD) respectively. The properties of size, moisture content, shell thickness were investigated and measured at three moisture levels namely: 6, 10 and 16 ( % db). Shell thickness varied from 0.1 to 1.7 kN while cracking force varied from 0.2 to 3.7 kN at 10 % moisture content. Regression equations were established to fit the relationships between fracture force, cracking force and shell thickness. The models were also validated and there was close agreement between the measured and predicted forces. The relative error of the predicted values ranged between 4.2.and 9.6