Effects of temperature and deformation speed on the breaking properties of Japanese common squid mantle

Abstract

The breaking properties of Japanese common squid were studied by tensile and shearing tests with the aim of developing foods which can be easily bitten and are therefore suitable for elderly people. Sample strips were prepared along or across the body axis of the mantle. The mechanical properties were strongly anisotropic, deriving from the tissue structure of the squid mantle. When the samplewas shorn across the axis, the breaking load from the fourth outer layer was greater than that from the inner layer. When the sample was stretched along the body axis, a lower breaking load and lower Young's modulus were observed at lower temperature and faster tensile speed. In contrast, when it was stretched across the body axis, a higher breaking load and higher Young's modulus were observed at lower temperature and faster speed. Under all of the test conditions, the breaking load and the Young's modulus for extension parallel to the body axis were greater than those for extension across the axis.