SYRINGEABILITY can be described as the ability of a product to be successfully administered by a syringe and appropriate needle.
Syringes are used in hospitals, surgeries and homes around the world on a daily basis, and for a multitude of purposes. Successful administration, as well as comfortable receipt of the material under the skin, rely on the effective tracking of the syringe piston within its outer tube.
FIRMNESS/HARDNESS/SOFTNESS are textural properties that are on the same general property spectrum.
A soft product is one that displays a slight resistance to deformation, a firm product is moderately resistant to deformation, while hardness describes a product which shows substantial resistance to deformation.
However, it is also likely that, depending upon the particular industry, one of these words may be more favourable or pertinent to a specific product.
GEL STRENGTH is a measure of the ability of a colloidal dispersion to develop and retain a gel form.
In the gelatine world, gel strength is traditionally referred to as Bloom. It is the force, expressed in grams, necessary to depress by 4 mm the surface of a gelatine gel with a standard 0.5" diameter cylinder probe.
Whilst gels are commonly accepted in the food industry the measurement of gel strength is also of widespread interest in the manufacture of pharmaceutical, medical and cosmetic products.
Gel properties such as elasticity and rupture force of, for example, pectin, gelatine, agar etc. are important in the development of such products as coronary stents where hydrogel polymers are selected due to their soft, rubbery nature which gives them a strong, superficial resemblance to living, soft tissue.
EXTRUDABILITY is the power required to push or force something out of something.
A compression-extrusion test consists of applying force to a product until it flows through an outlet (or number of outlets) that may be in the form of one or more slots or holes that are in the test cell. The product is compressed until the structure of the product is disrupted and it extrudes through these outlets.
Quantifying extrudability is important to determine the ease of removal and application of products such as ointments, creams, gels, sauces, paint, icings etc. Product developers can analyse changes in a product's consistency throughout its shelf life and adapt formulations accordingly whilst also enabling manufacturers to assess the suitability of packaging material and its construction.
STICKINESS/ADHESIVENESS is the work/force necessary to overcome the attractive forces between the surface of the product and the surface of the material (the probe) with which the product comes in contact.
It is commonly the textural property possessed by confectionery products, cooked pasta products, raw bakery products, pharmaceutical patches and, more obviously – adhesives.
TACKINESS is the property of being cohesive and sticky. It does not appear to be referred to in the food industry, but there are many references in e.g. solder paste measurement for printed circuit board industry.
PEEL STRENGTH is a material's ability to resist forces that can pull it apart by separating a flexible surface from a rigid surface or another flexible surface.
Peel tests are useful for a variety of products and can be performed on containers such as jars, cans, trays, packaging pouches as well as assessment of adhesive, cosmetic and medical products such tapes, bandages, wax strips etc.
The most common tests are the T-peel, 90 degree peel and the 180 degree peel but different peeling angles are possible. Usually the average force per unit width and the peak force required to separate either of these two surfaces is measured.
DISINTEGRATION is the ability to become reduced to components, fragments, or particles.
It may be as a result of decay, loss of cohesion, dissolving in liquid or crumbling and is generally associated with shrinkage, loss of height or volume from its original form. It is one of the primary characteristics of bath bombs, fast-disintegrating tablets, whipped creams, foams and mousses.
The Texture Analyser can be used to monitor the change in height of a product from its original height over a period of disintegration or volume/height loss. By tracking the distance required to move to maintain a chosen force the rate of decay can be plotted and calculated to the end point or period of no further change.
An independent study published in the Journal of Food Science has recognised the superior performance of Stable Micro Systems’ Warner-Bratzler shear blade in assessing firmness and texture in salmon fillets*.
The blade, which is used to assess the cutting force, or ‘bite’ of fresh fish, was the most sensitive method tested and yielded the most consistently accurate and repeatable data. As post-mortem quality degradation in fish continues to affect revenues, these conclusions will assist manufacturers looking to implement reliable, accurate and tested quality control procedures.
