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Brittle failure of dry spaghetti

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Engineering Failure Analysis 11 (2004) 705714

www.elsevier.com/locate/engfailanal

Brittle failure of dry spaghetti

G.V. Guinea *, F.J. Rojo, M. Elices
Departamento de Ciencia de Materiales, E.T.S.I. Caminos, Canales y Puertos, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, c/Profesor Aranguren,
Ciudad Universitaria s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Received 5 September 2003; accepted 1 October 2003
Available online 13 February 2004

Abstract
This paper investigates the tensile properties and brittle fracture of dry durum semolina bers (spaghetti), and
provides quantitative values for the strength and toughness of this material. Tensile tests on spaghetti of dierent
lengths were performed, and the results correlated with the micrographic observation of fracture surfaces and aw
distribution. The tests were analyzed according to two widely-used failure theories for brittle materials: those of weakest
link statistics and linear elastic fracture mechanics, pointing out their applicability and limitations for this material.
2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Tensile properties; Fracture toughness; Weibull statistics; Brittle fracture; Food technology

1. Introduction
Durum wheat semolina is the base material for spaghetti, fusilli, and other pasta products. Semolina is
processed by adding water, extruding the dough into the desired shape which gives it its characteristic
avor and drying it under well controlled conditions to prevent the development of cracking. Dry pasta is
basically made of starch granules uniformly dispersed in a continuous protein phase known as gluten.
When pasta is extruded in long cylindrical bers with a diameter between 1 and 2 mm it is given the
commercial name of spaghetti.
The mechanical strength of dry pasta is ordinarily used as a standard of quality control because it is
closely related to the semolina properties (mainly gluten content [1,2]) and to the pasta processing, specially
to the drying step (which has proved critical to the quality of the nal product [3]). In addition, mechanical
measurements are simple and can be easily integrated in the production plant, and provide useful information for the design of packing and shipping operations.
To assess the mechanical performance of dry spaghetti, exural tests and compression tests (where the
nal collapse is due to ber buckling) are usually performed. A nominal rupture strength is obtained from
*

Corresponding author. Tel.: +34-91-336-66-79; fax: +34-91-336-66-80.

E-mail address: gguinea@mater.upm.es (G.V. Guinea).

1350-6307/$ - see front matter 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.engfailanal.2003.10.006

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G.V. Guinea et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 11 (2004) 705714

these tests by dividing the maximum load recorded by the cross sectional area of the specimen. Although
useful for comparative purposes, nominal strengths do not measure the intrinsic properties of the material,
and are dependent on the geometry and shape of the specimen.
A better understanding and modeling of the mechanical behavior of dry pasta needs to be supported by
appropriate knowledge of the material properties which must be insensitive by denition to the specic
experimental procedure by which they are determined.
This work aims at characterizing the tensile behavior of dry spaghetti, and at providing values for the
tensile strength and fracture toughness of this material. Four tensile test series were performed on specimens of dierent lengths, analyzing also their fracture surfaces. The results show that dry spaghetti bers
are close to the ideal linear-elastic behavior, and can be characterized by a denite value of fracture
toughness. The paper also demonstrates that statistical models based on the weakest-link do not explain
satisfactorily the inuence of size on tensile properties.
The next section introduces the material and the experimental methods used in this work. Section 3
discusses the results of the tensile tests by applying both the weakest link model routinely used to
evaluate fracture of brittle bers and the Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM) theory,
and examines their applicability to pasta bers. The paper closes with the main conclusions and the
references.

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Material and specimen geometry
Dry commercial semolina bers with a diameter of 1.65 mm (Barilla spaghetti) were used for this work.
All the bers were obtained from the same package (
300 U) to ensure homogeneity, and were stored and
tested under well controlled temperature and humidity conditions to minimize the eect of hydration/dehydration processes. The nominal storage and testing conditions were 20  2 C and 40  5% relative
humidity (RH).
Spaghetti dry matter was composed of starch (76%) and gluten (13%). The moisture content of the bers,
measured by the weight loss after heating at 105 C for 4 h, was estimated as 4.7%.
Fibers were nominally 500 mm long. They were cut in samples of 400, 250, 175 and 135 mm corresponding to the four tensile test series planned. The tested ber lengths (free length between the upper and
lower grip) were set equal to L 300, 150, 75 and 35 mm, respectively. All the specimens were obtained
from fresh bers from the package.
2.2. Tensile tests
Fibers were tested with a universal testing machine (Instron 4111) driven at 1 mm/min elongation rate.
The bers were clamped between at jaws, placing 2 mm-thick pieces of silicone rubber between the ber
and the metallic grips to avoid damage and a premature failure. The length of the ber between the grips
was set to the specied value (300, 150, 75 or 35 mm) within  0.5 mm, the anchoring length being roughly
50 mm for all the specimens.
Tests were carried out at 20 C and 40% RH. Maximum loads were recorded with an Instron load cell of
 0.5N accuracy, rejecting tests in which the bers broke in the grips. To measure the entire stressstrain
curve and not only the maximum load an extensometer with 50 mm gage length (INSTRON 2620-602)
was attached to some of the bers.
The bers were appropriately identied after testing, and stored under controlled conditions (20 C and
40% RH).

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707

2.3. Fracture surfaces

Fracture surfaces were analyzed by optical microscopy (Zeiss Axiovert 100A). A planar, quasi-circular
aw, perpendicular to the ber axis, was systematically observed in all the specimens. The defect was
characterized by its radius, r, and ligament, b, as shown in Fig. 1. The ber diameter and aw size were
measured by means of a calibrated microscope to  4 lm accuracy. The average radius of the bers, R, was
0.824  0.004 mm (95% condence interval).
In addition to optical measurements, some selected samples were metallized (10 nm AuPd, Energy
Beam Sciences Ultra-Spec 90) and observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with a JEOL JSM6300 microscope (observation conditions:10 kV and 1010 A). The micrograph of a fractured section is
shown in Fig. 2.

3. Results and discussion

A total of 232 bers were tensile tested, which yields an average of 58 for each ber length. The tensile
strength, r, was computed as the ratio between the maximum load of the test and the ber cross-sectional
area at the fracture plane.
A remarkably linear-elastic behavior until rupture was noticed in all the bers, as illustrated in Fig. 3.
Inelastic deformations at rupture were under 2% of total specimen deformation. The modulus of elasticity
was 5.0 GPa.
3.1. Statistical analysis
It is customarily assumed that the maximum stress that brittle materials can withstand varies unpredictably, even if a set of nominally identical specimens are tested under the same conditions, so statistical
theories are drawn on to describe the strength of these materials, and the weakest link is one of the most
popular models adopted, specically when bers are the concern [4,5].
In its most general formulation, the weakest link model states that the cumulative probability of failure
Pf of a brittle ber of length, L, subjected to a load, r, is given by [6]:
Pf 1  expCrL;

Fig. 1. Optical micrograph of a fractured surface. The ber diameter is 1.63 mm.

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G.V. Guinea et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 11 (2004) 705714

Fig. 2. SEM micrograph of the surface shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3. Stressstrain curves of semolina bers.

where Cr is the concentration function, which represents the number of defects per unit length having a
strength lower than r. The derivation of Eq. (1) assumes that defects are dilute non-interacting and
randomly distributed.
Weibulls classical form for Cr is the potential equation [7]:
Cr

1
L0

rrth
r0

m

if r > rth ;

if r 6 rth ;

where L0 and r0 are reference values, and m is the Weibulls modulus. rth is the threshold strength below
which no failure will occur, and which is generally assumed to be equal to zero.
Eq. (1) together with the concentration function (2) gives the equation of a straight line of slope m when
represented in a ln ln1  Pf  vs lnr  rth plot:
ln ln1  Pf  lnL  lnL0 rm0 m lnr  rth ;

which furnishes a simple way of evaluating m from a linear tting of (3) to the experimental pairs (r; Pf ).

G.V. Guinea et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 11 (2004) 705714

709

In practice, Pf values are not directly accessible from experiments, and a statistical estimator is used to
allocate the failure probability to each strength level. A useful procedure to evaluate Pf is based on arranging strength values in ascending order and assigning them a probability proportional to their position, i
[8]:
Pi

i  0:5
;
N

N being the number of samples.

Fig. 4 plots ln ln1  Pf  as a function of lnr for the four series tested, each corresponding to a
dierent ber length. Pf values were estimated by (4), and rth was set at zero. The gure shows how the
values corresponding to the same ber length, L, lie with good approximation on a straight line, as stipulated by (3). Nevertheless, the overall behavior does not match the expected dependence; Weibulls
modulus is not constant it varies with L and the straight line corresponding to each ber length does not
translate to the right as L decreases.
Weibulls parameters can be directly determined without resort to probability estimators such as (4). The
best estimate of these parameters is by the maximum likelihood method [9], which seeks the set of parameters that maximize the function that gives the probability of obtaining the set of experimental points
actually measured. Unfortunately, this method does not yield a better t than (3) when applied to the
experimental data, as is shown in Table 1.
A third set of parameters obtained by a direct least square tting of Eqs. (1) and (2) is also shown in
Table 1. Once more, Weibulls modulus and the other parameters are dependent on ber length, and it is
not possible to nd a set of parameters to characterize the tensile behavior of the bers.
The inuence of ber length on the mean tensile strength is shown in Fig. 5. Error bars display the
standard deviation, and the number of tests is shown in brackets. The gure illustrates the wide scatter of
the results, in which for the same ber length, extreme values can dier by 70% (e.g., from 19 up to 33 MPa
for L 150 mm).
The mean strength of Weibulls distribution, r, is given by [4,6]:

r r0

L0
L

1=m


C1 1=m
r0

L0
L

1=m

0:63661=m ;

where the error is within 0.5% for 5 < m < 50 [6].

Fig. 4. Logarithmic plot of ln ln1  Pf  vs lnr of the four series tested.

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G.V. Guinea et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 11 (2004) 705714

Table 1
Weibulls parameters obtained by dierent estimation methods
1=m

(mm1=m MPa)

Method

L (mm)

r0 L0

Eq. (3)

300
150
75
35

15.2
10.9
17.6
13.9

42.7
45.3
37.1
43.0

0.988
0.990
0.989
0.993

14.4

42.0

0.853

13.9
10.1
18.0
13.8

44.3
47.1
37.0
42.5

0.994
0.992
0.996
0.997

14.0

42.7

0.849

300

14.2

43.7

0.995

150
75
35

9.8
17.0
13.9

47.7
37.5
43.1

0.994
0.996
0.997

13.7

43.0

0.848

Average
Maximum likelihood

300
150
75
35

Average
Least square tting of
Eqs. (1) and (2)

Average

Correlation coecient

Fig. 5. Variation of tensile strength with ber length.

The least square tting to Eq. (5) of the experimental data in Fig. 5 gives the dashed curve plotted in the
gure, whose analytical expression is:
r 38:338L1=16:5 ;

6
1=m

from which m 16:5 and r0 L0 39:4 mm1=m MPa are readily obtained. These values are comparable to
the averages shown in Table 1, but the correlation coecient is very poor (R 0:774).
As the Weibull concentration function (2) has been found to describe successfully the fracture of most
brittle materials, it was considered rst in this work. However, the results suggest that Weibulls distribution
does not satisfactorily explain the tensile behavior of dry semolina bers.
To explore the general shape of the concentration function for this material, Cr was estimated by
1=L ln1  Pf , as immediately derived from Eq. (1). The probability Pf was obtained from Eq. (4) for

G.V. Guinea et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 11 (2004) 705714

711

every ber length series. The estimated values of Cr are plotted in Fig. 6, which clearly shows that the
experimental data cannot be modeled by a single concentration function independent of the ber length.
This result cast doubts on the applicability of the weakest link statistics to dry semolina bers.
3.2. Flaw geometry
As stated in Section 2, a planar, internal crack, oriented perpendicularly to the ber axis was present in
all the fractured sections. The shape of this crack with a good degree of approximation can be considered
circular (see Figs. 1 and 2). The crack size was practically constant in all the specimens, independently of the
ber length. The mean crack radius, r, of all the specimens was 0.199 mm, which is about 1/4 of the mean
ber radius, with a coecient of variation (ratio of the standard deviation and mean) of 0.18.
The position of the cracks is presented in Table 2, which gives the values of the relative ligament b=R (see
Fig. 1). The crack position does not seem to be related to ber length; neither does its mean value nor its
standard deviation vary signicantly with L. It is worth mentioning that in opposition to crack radius, the
relative ligament displays a large coecient of variation of the order of 0.51 and b=R practically ranges
over all the interval (0,0.8).
A close look at the fracture surfaces reveals that crack faces exhibit a characteristic morphology in which
starch granules are visible and partially detached from the gluten matrix, thus rendering a rough surface
(Figs. 2 and 7). On the contrary, the region outside the crack presents a smooth surface with morphological
characteristics similar to cleavage.
These observations suggest that internal aws could have been developed by shrinkage or other analogous mechanisms during manufacture, when the ber was wet and in a soft visco-plastic state. Once

Fig. 6. Concentration function of dry semolina bers.

Table 2
Mean values and standard deviations of relative crack ligaments (b=R)
L (mm)

300
150
75
35
All

b=R
Mean

Standard deviation

Coecient of variation

0.347
0.326
0.328
0.320
0.332

0.178
0.155
0.171
0.179
0.169

0.513
0.475
0.521
0.559
0.509

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G.V. Guinea et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 11 (2004) 705714

Fig. 7. Fracture morphology of the crack surface and adjacent zones. The ber diameter is 1.65 mm.

completely dried, aws would remain inside the bers and would trigger their brittle fracture when tensile
tested.
3.3. Fracture mechanics
Internal cracks have not received so much attention by researchers despite their interest for ber fracture
analysis, and only recently has a report been published of stress intensity factors, KI for a planar, circular,
eccentrical crack, oriented perpendicularly to the ber axis and remotely loaded [10]. For the crack geometry depicted in Fig. 1, KI reaches the maximum value at the point of the crack front closest to the ber
surface, which can be expressed as [10]:
2 p
KI r prf r=R; b=R;
p

r being the remote stress applied to the ber and f r=R; b=R a non-dimensional function of the relative
crack radius, r=R, and crack ligament, b=R, given by [10]:
f r=R; b=R 1

5
X

2i1=2

Ci0 r=R

i1

3
X
i1

Ci2
2i
Ln1 r=R fCi1 Ln2 b=Rr=R p ;
r=Rb=R

where Cij coecients are given in Table 3. The expression above is claimed to be valid for b=R > 0:005 y
r=R < 0:6 with 1% accuracy [10].

Table 3
Cij coecients
i

Ci0

Ci1

Ci2

1
2
3
4

+0.01242
6.388
+16.89
9.838

0.3097
+1.547
0.8769

+1.185
3.723
+2.628

G.V. Guinea et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 11 (2004) 705714

713

Fig. 8. KIC values of dry semolina bers.

According to LEFM, the crack in the bers will propagate when the maximum KI reaches KIC , the
fracture toughness which is assumed to be a material property. Fig. 8pshows
the values of KIC computed

with Eq. (7) for all the bers tested. A stable value KIC 0:478 MPa m is drawn from the gure, independent of ber length. The coecient of variation is under 10%, and the scatter is similar in each group of
ber length.

4. Conclusions
This paper analyzes the tensile behavior and strength of dry semolina bers, commonly known as
spaghetti, and their dependence on ber length.
In the conditions investigated, 20 C and 40% RH, semolina bers are brittle and show a striking linearelastic behavior with less than 2% inelastic deformation at rupture. The modulus of elasticity is 5.0 GPa.
Weibulls analysis of rupture loads, when applied to a set of bers of the same length, works properly
yielding a modulus close to that of ceramics (m 14). Nevertheless, the model fails to explain the tensile
behavior of bers of dierent lengths. A similar result is obtained when the weakest link model with a
general concentration function is considered.
The inapplicability of statistical theories to spaghetti bers is probably related to the presence of a
planar, circular, internal aw in all the fractured surfaces. The regular size observed, close to 1/4 of ber
diameter, does not full the requirement of randomly distributed defects prescribed by weakest link
statistics. The defects show a peculiar rough texture where the starch granules are removed from the
protein matrix. The rest of the broken surface is at, and some patterns recall cleavage fracture. The
morphology suggests that aws have been generated at the manufacturing stage, probably during drying,
by shrinkage when the bers were wet and plastic. This is consistent with the uniform size observed in all
the defects.
The existence of a crack-like defect in combination with the linear-elastic behavior of the material makes
it possible to analyze the breaks by fracture mechanics. The authors, in a previous paper, developed an
expression for KI valid for internal, circular aws which has been applied to the bers inpthis
work. The
fracture toughness of dry pasta, measured for the rst time, shows a value of 0.478 MPa m.
The results show that LEFM is applicable to dry pasta, and could be a useful tool to model its mechanical behavior. This opens the possibility that LEFM parameters such as fracture toughness could be
used in the future to measure the quality of this product.

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G.V. Guinea et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 11 (2004) 705714

Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge nancial support for this work by the Spanish Ministry for Science
and Technology under Grant No. MAT2000-1355.

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