Effects of Particle Size of Rice Powder on Mutual Interactions of Components, Glutinous Rice Powder, Non-Glutinous Rice Powder and Water, for Viscoelastic Properties of “Dango”

Abstract

Viscoelasticity of “Dango, ” prepared from a ternary mixture of water and glutinous and nonglutinous rice powders milled to a variety of sizes, was examined by means of the creep measurements. The data obtained were analyzed by use of the so-called “simplex lattice designs of Scheffe” so as to clarify the compositional interactions in “Dango”.
The amount of water in the mixture played a significant role in the viscoelastic properties of “Dango”. The influence of the amount of non-glutinous rice powder in the mixture appeared in the viscoelastic properties more than that of glutinous one.
It seemed that the viscoelasticity of “Dango” might be described by the Voigt bodies in a mechanical model. From the view point of the strains in the Voigt bodies and the total model, an offset effect on the interactions between non-glutinous rice powder and water appeared, while an extensive synergistic effect could be identified with the two components of glutinous rice powder and water in the mixture.
The viscoelasticity of “Dango” was notably depended on the mixing ratio of each components, when the fine powders more than 200 mesh were employed for preparing the mixture.