The purpose of this research was to determine the firmness of mango fruit at different stages of maturity. Immature, mature, and over mature fruit from two Thai mango cultivars (Nam Dokmai and Chok Anan) were subjected to two firmness measuring techniques: a slow compression technique using the Universal Testing Machine and a high-speed impact sensing technique using the low-mass impact tester. The firmness of a mango as determined by the compression test was expressed by the slope of the force-deformation graph, while firmness values derived from the impact test were defined by the ratio between maximum acceleration and the corresponding time (the firmness index). A very good correlation between the two indicators was obtained. Each firmness indicator of the two cultivars remained relatively unchanged from the immature through to the fully mature stage, although firmness rapidly decreased as the fruit ripened. The Chok Anan cultivar was firmer than the Nam Dokmai type throughout the development period. The impact method was able to determine mango firmness rapidly, accurately, and non-destructively.
This research explored the effect of rice husk ash on the mechanical properties of clay bricks, for example, strength, density, and water absorption. Rice husk ash, varying 0 to 5% by weight, was added. The results showed that porosity increased when adding rice husk. Adding 3% rice husk ash by weight showed the best mechanical brick properties, with 13.50 MPa of compressive strength, 1.69 g/cm3 of density, and 11.50% of water absorption.
Silica with nanostructure are the high quality silica that are used in many industry areas. The applications of silica nanostructure frequently depend on physical properties such as morphology and size of structure. Rice husk ash is the waste from biomass power plants and is a high quality, raw material as a silica source. The conventional methods for synthesis of nanosilica from rice husk ash are energy consumption or time consumption. The objective of this work was to investigate the synthesized of nanosilica from rice husk ash via sodium silicate solution. nanosilica particles were obtained via alkaline extraction and a fast acid precipitation method at room temperature by adding inorganic salts and without surfactant or template. The flow synthesis was investigated at ambient temperature, varying the concentration of hydrochloric acid, sodium chloride, and flow-rate while fixing the concentration of sodium silicate. The samples were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results revealed that the sodium chloride is significantly inorganic salt for generated nanosilica, with uniform spherical morphology (80-150 nm), without curing or aging time. In the flow synthesis method, the silica nanoparticles, of diameter around 10 nm and aggregate particles of around 50 to 200 nm, were obtained. This method may be applicable to control different grade of silica and can easily scaling up of silica production for different industries.
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