Effect of Extruder Die Temperature on Texture and Microstructure of Restructured Mechanically Deboned Chicken and Corn Starch

Proximate composition, textural properties and microstructural changes of mechanically deboned chicken/15% corn starch extrudates were evaluated when restructured at die temperatures of 25, 71, 82, 93 , 104 and ll5°C in a twin-screw extruder. Total sol ids and fat content decreased, whereas protein content increased die temperatures were increased. When die temperature was increased from 71°C to 104°C, apparent stress at failure of extrudates increased by 44 kPa , but decreased at a die temperature of 115°C. Changes in the protein matrix, fat globules and starch granules due to changes i n extruder die temperature were observed by scanning electron microscopy. Extrudates prepared at die temperatures of 71°C and 82°C exhibited microstructures similar to those observed for salt-soluble muscle protein gels. Extrudates prepared at die temperatures above 93°C exhibited microstructures more typical of gelatinized starch

Probing photo-ionization: Experiments on positive streamers in pure gasses and mixtures

Positive streamers are thought to propagate by photo-ionization whose parameters depend on the nitrogen:oxygen ratio. Therefore we study streamers in nitrogen with 20%, 0.2% and 0.01% oxygen and in pure nitrogen, as well as in pure oxygen and argon. Our new experimental set-up guarantees contamination of the pure gases to be well below 1 ppm. Streamers in oxygen are difficult to measure as they emit considerably less light in the sensitivity range of our fast ICCD camera than the other gasses. Streamers in pure nitrogen and in all nitrogen/oxygen mixtures look generally similar, but become somewhat thinner and branch more with decreasing oxygen content. In pure nitrogen the streamers can branch so much that they resemble feathers. This feature is even more pronounced in pure argon, with approximately 10^2 hair tips/cm^3 in the feathers at 200 mbar; this density could be interpreted as the free electron density creating avalanches towards the streamer stem. It is remarkable that the streamer velocity is essentially the same for similar voltage and pressure in all nitrogen/oxygen mixtures as well as in pure nitrogen, while the oxygen concentration and therefore the photo-ionization lengths vary by more than five orders of magnitude. Streamers in argon have essentially the same velocity as well. The physical similarity of streamers at different pressures is confirmed in all gases; the minimal diameters are smaller than in earlier measurements.Comment: 28 pages, 14 figures. Major differences with v1: - appendix and spectra removed - subsection regarding effects of repetition frequency added - many more smaller change