The Effect of Shear Rate on Dissolution of Gas and Cell Density in Continuous Foaming Process

The effect of shear rate on dissolution of carbon dioxide in viscoelastic wheat flour matrix and cell density in a glass barrel twin screw extruder is investigated. It is found that by increasing the shear rate there will be a decrease in the required thermodynamic conditions and hence, it improves blowing agent dissolution and increases the cell density. Shear rate breaks up big bubbles and helps to better distribute the blowing agent in the matrix and hence it increases the cell density. Cell density decreases by dropping foam cooling rate. For a given cell density, a higher screw speed is needed, ifthe cooling rate is decreased.