Assessment of Some Physical Properties of Char (Buchanania lanzan) Seed

Abstract

Size, shape, volume, surface area, density, porosity are some physical characteristics, which are important in many problems associated with the design of a specific machine. The physical properties of wild variety of Buchanania lanzan seeds have been evaluated as a function of seed moisture content, varying from 10.1 to 20% (db). In the moisture range, seed length increased linearly from 7.28 to 12.98 mm, width from 5.97 to 11.2 mm, thickness from 5.36 to 10.34 mm and geometric mean diameter from 6.04 to 11.45 mm, respectively with an increase in moisture content. The sphericity, surface area, and volume increased nonlinearly from 0.850 to 0.881, 118.8 to 412.28 mm2, and 121.9 to 787.37 mm3, respectively. One thousand seed weight increased linearly from 0.211 to 0.433 kg. The bulk density and true density decreased linearly with moisture content from 639.01 to 521.36 kg/m3 and 867.73 to 797.73 kg/m3, respectively, while porosity values of seeds increased linearly from 26.45 to 33.36%. Static friction coefficients were found to increase as moisture content increases. Static friction coefficient was highest on rubber surface and lowest on glass surface ranging from 0.594 to 0.730 and 0.249 to 0.329, respectively, while the largest increase (34.71%) in static friction coefficient with moisture content was observed for plywood. The angle of repose increased linearly from 26.45 to 33.75º with the increase of moisture content.