Abstract
The breaking properties of agar gels were studied by determining stress-strain relationships under compression at a constant rate. The “Dynagraph” was used as this measuring apparatus. Specimens of agar gels were compressed at various cross-head speeds. It was observed that the failure of the gels was brittle, and that stress-strain curves showed the sigmoid shape. Also it was found that the breaking point coincided with the yield point. Both the rupture stress and the rupture energy increased with either increasing the agar concentration or rising the cross-head speed. However effects of these factors on the rupture strain were not clearly observed.
Similar experiments were performed on the agar-sugar gels, banana and fish sausage for the purpose of comparing with the agar gels. Their stress-strain curves were obtained. In the case of agar-sugar gels, the curves showed sharp sigmoid shape; while in banana and fish sausage, these shapes differed from sigmoid.
