Determination of physical properties of soybean at different moisture levels

Abstract

The physical properties of soybean are important in designing and fabricating equipment and structures for handling, transporting, processing and storage, and also for assessing the quality of soybean. The study was conducted to investigate some physical properties of soybean at various moisture levels. The average length, width, thickness and thousand mass were 6.55 mm, 5.56 mm, 4.53 mm and 103.57 g, respectively, at moisture content of 7.37% (dry basis). The geometric mean diameter increased from 5.44 to 5.57 mm and the sphericity varied between 0.83 and 0.84 as moisture content increased from 7.37% to 15.80% (db), respectively. In the same moisture range, the bulk and true densities decreased from 749.1 to 644.4 kg/m3 and 1250 to 1111.11 kg/m3, respectively, whereas the corresponding porosity increased from 40.07% to 41.9%. As the moisture content increased from 7.37% to 15.80% (db) angle of repose as found to increase from 26.35° to 30.96°. The static coefficient of friction of soybean increased linearly against the surfaces of two structural materials, namely glass and wood as the moisture content increased from 7.37% to 15.80% (db).