Abstract
To the best of our knowledge, there have been few reports on test methods for the viscoelastic properties of soft objects using an air jet instead of plungers for loading and unloading. We propose a method of evaluating their viscoelastic properties, such as soft processed foods and industrial products, using an air jet with newly developed test equipment. In this method, loading and unloading can be performed using an air jet in a very short time, loading time can be arbitrarily set, and the shape of the dents formed on the surface of soft objects can be instantaneously measured using light from a semiconductor laser. In this study, using the developed equipment, we measured the shape of the dents formed on soft samples, measured the depth of the dents for various loading times, types of soft sample, and pressures, and evaluated the viscoelastic properties of the soft samples with respect to elastic compliance and equivalent dent depth.
