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Indexed by:Journal Papers

Date of Publication:2019-06-01

Journal:CRYSTALS

Included Journals:SCIE

Volume:9

Issue:6

ISSN No.:2073-4352

Key Words:ice cream; microstructure; ice crystals; tomography; modelling; coarsening kinetics

Abstract:Ice cream is a complex multi-phase structure and its perceived quality is closely related to the small size of ice crystals in the product. Understanding the quantitative coarsening behaviour of ice crystals will help manufacturers optimise ice cream formulations and processing. Using synchrotron X-ray tomography, we measured the time-dependent coarsening (Ostwald ripening) of ice crystals in ice cream during cooling at 0.05 degrees C/min. The results show ice crystal coarsening is highly temperature dependent, being rapid from ca. -6 to -12 degrees C but significantly slower at lower temperatures. We developed a numerical model, based on established coarsening theory, to calculate the relationship between crystal diameter, cooling rate and the weight fraction of sucrose in solution. The ice crystal diameters predicted by the model are found to agree well with the measured values if matrix diffusion is assumed to be slowed by a factor of 1.2 due to the presence of stabilizers or high molecular weight sugars in the ice cream formulation.