Some technical properties of dried Terminalia chebula (kara halile) for use in harvest and post-harvest processing

Abstract

Depending on humidity, some technical properties of T. chebula (black halile) dried fruit were investigated. It was observed that various properties, such as dimension, geometric mean diameter, and arithmetic mean diameter, increased linearly with increasing moisture content. With the increase in moisture content, sphericity increased from 57.2% to 67.7%, surface area increased from 487.65 mm2 to 805.03 mm2, porosity increased from 0.49 to 0.59, and the angle of repose increased from 22.77° to 27.86°. However, moisture content, true density, and bulk density decreased from 1.85% to 3.27%, 1469.54 kg/m3 to 1740.22 kg/m3, and 735.64 kg/m3 to 705.99 kg/m3, respectively. When the moisture content increased from 1.85% to 3.27%, the static and dynamic friction coefficient increased from 0.231 to 0.495 and 0.311 to 0.637, respectively. The lowest static and dynamic friction force values were obtained for stainless steel and the highest for rubber surface. When moisture content increased from 1.85% to 3.27%, tensile strength decreased from 446.46 N to 257.59 N. Rupture energy and deformation increased with an increase in the moisture content of the fruit. When the moisture content increased from 1.85% to 3.27%, the rupture energy and deformation increased from 0.09 J to 0.27 J and 0.83 mm to 1.76 mm, respectively.