Scattering from oriented objects analysed by the anisotropic Guinier–Porod model

Small angle scattering is frequently applied to study the anisotropy in complex soft matter systems. One emerging application is to probe the multi-scale structure in food matrices; while few models are available to describe the anisotropic scattering pattern in a quantitative, yet simple manner. For this purpose, anisotropy is introduced to...

Structure and dynamics of fibrous calcium caseinate gels studied by neutron scattering

In the past decades, neutron scattering techniques have been applied to many soft matter systems and have yielded fruitful results that contribute to a better understanding of their properties. Yet, the techniques were rarely used for studying food materials, probably because they are less well known and less accessible to food scientists. This...

Small angle neutron scattering quantifies the hierarchical structure in fibrous calcium caseinate

Pronounced fibres are formed through simple shearing of a dense calcium caseinate dispersion. Both mechanical tests and scanning electron microscopy images demonstrate that the material is anisotropic. It is hypothesised that calcium caseinate aggregates, under shear, align into micro-fibres and bundle further into a hierarchical structure....

Impact of water degumming and enzymatic degumming on gum mesostructure formation in crude soybean oil

Phospholipid gum mesostructures formed in crude soybean oil after water degumming (WD) and enzymatic degumming (ED) were studied at a range of phospholipid and water concentrations. For ED, phospholipase C (PLC), phospholipase A2 (PLA2) and a mixture of phospholipases Purifine 3G (3G) were used. Both WD and ED resulted in lamellar liquid...

Systematically quantifying oil–water microemulsion structures using (spin-echo) small angle neutron scattering

Microemulsion systems consisting of D₂O, an alkane, an anionic internal olefin sulfonate surfactant, salt and secondary butyl alcohol (SBA) as co-solvent are studied in a systematic way. In four different sample sets, either the salt content, SBA content or alkane carbon number was varied in order to study the effects of the...

Air bubbles in calcium caseinate fibrous material enhances anisotropy

Dense calcium caseinate dispersions can be transformed into hierarchically fibrous structures by shear deformation. This transformation can be attributed to the intrinsic properties of calcium caseinate. Depending on the dispersion preparation method, a certain amount of air gets entrapped in the sheared protein matrix. Although anisotropy is...

Fibre formation in calcium caseinate influenced by solvent isotope effect and drying method – A neutron spectroscopy study

We present an investigation of the dynamics of calcium caseinate as a function of hydration, solvent isotope (H₂O and D₂O) and drying methods (roller drying and spray drying), using quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS). These factors are key to the formation of fibres in this material which makes it a potential...

Understanding the role of air and protein phase on mechanical anisotropy of calcium caseinate fibers

Calcium caseinate dispersions can be transformed into anisotropic, fibrous materials using the concept of shear-induced structuring. The aim of this study is to further investigate the relative importance of air bubbles and protein on the mechanical anisotropy of calcium caseinate material. In this study, the effect of air on mechanical...

A versatile shear cell for investigation of structure of food materials under shear

A versatile cell for X-ray and neutron scattering experiments on samples under shear has been designed. To our knowledge, it is the first shear cell which can be used for both SAXS and SANS in respectively synchrotron or reactor beamlines. The cell is mainly intended for scattering experiments in so-called “1–2 plane geometry” but can also be...

Air bubbles in fibrous caseinate gels investigated by neutron refraction, X-ray tomography and refractive microscope

Estuarine morphodynamic adaptation to sediment supply and human activities: A case study of turbidity maximum

Estuarine morphodynamics undergo significant changes due to declined sediment supply from river, rising sea-level, and human interferences (Syvitski and Saito, 2007; Syvitski et al., 2009). The Yangtze Estuary is such a case whose decadal morphodynamic evolution was broadly examined. It was documented that the subaqueous delta shifted from...

Compressible Rayleigh-Taylor turbulent mixing under different acceleration histories

Compressible Rayleigh-Taylor turbulent mixing (CRTM) induced by Rayleigh-Taylor instability occurs when a compressible fluid of heavy density is accelerated or supported against gravity by a compressible fluid of light density, and is of fundamental importance in applications from combustion, to inertial confinement fusion, and to astrophysics....