Mechanical properties determination of Soybean seed by quasi-static loading

Effect of variety, moisture and drying temperature on mechanical properties of soybean (failure force and energy, apparent modulus of elasticity and toughness) were studied. These properties were measured through quasi-static loading experiment by material testing machine. Factorial test with Randomized Block design was used to study the effect of drying parameters including final moisture content (3 levels: 10, 12 and 14% d.b.) and temperature (at 3 levels: 50, 60 and 70 ˚C) and varieties (Hill, Pershing and Gorgan3) on mechanical properties of soybean. The results showed that both drying factors (final moisture content and temperature) had significant effect on the force and energy failure. So that by increasing final moisture content from 10% to 14%, the failure force and energy increased from 47.5 N and 10 mJ to 82 N and 56 mJ, respectively. This different behavior of soybean in relation to other grains is due to a high amount of fat in soybean structure. Also by increasing drying temperature from 50˚C to 70˚C, the seed failure force was increased. Investigation of the effects of variety and moisture factors on toughness and apparent elasticity modulus showed that variety and moisture content had significant effect on three factors. Soybean elasticity modulus was 80.95 MPa at 10% moisture content, which by increasing moisture content to 14%, it decreased to 25.56 MPa.