Efeito de danos mecânicos sobre propriedades físicas de grãos de milho.

Abstract

The main objective of the present work was to determine the effects of mechanical damages on physical properties of shelled corn . In order to obtain different levels of mechanical damades ears corn were shelled on a grain sheller machine using combinations of 5 speeds of the sheller cilinder and 4 different initial moisture contents. The results showed that the percentage of mechanical damages increases with both increasing of cilinder speed and moisture content of the corn. Specific heat, thermal conductivity , porosity , specific weight, and equilibrium moisture content of the corn were not affected significantly by mechanical damages on the kernels.