Texture Profile Analysis

Practical Definitions of Standard TPA Terms Paraphrased From Dr. Malcolm Bourne's Food Texture & Viscosity (Academic Press). The hardness value is the peak force of the first compression of the product. The hardness need not occur at the point of deepest compression, although it typically does for most products.

Hardness

Not all products fracture; but when they do fracture the Fracturability point occurs where the Fracturability plot has its first significant peak (where the force falls off) during the probe's first compression of the product. Cohesiveness is how well the product withstands a second deformation relative to how it behaved under the first deformation. It is measured as the area of work during the second Cohesiveness compression divided by the area of work during the first compression. (Refer to Area 2/Area 1 in the below graph). Springiness is how well a product physically springs back after it has been deformed during the first compression. The springback is measured at the downstroke of the second compression, so the wait time between two strokes can be relatively important. In some cases an excessively long wait time will allow a product to springback more than it might under the conditions being researched (eg you would not wait 60 seconds between chews). Springiness is measured several ways, but most typically, by the distance of the detected height of the product on the second compression (Length 2 on the below graph), as divided by the original compression distance (Length 1). The original definition of springiness used the Length 2 only, and the units were in mm or other units of distance. We do not subscribe to that original description of springiness since the springiness value can only be compared among products which are identical in their original shape & height. Many TPA users compress their products a % strain, and for those applications a pure distance value (rather than a ratio) is too heavily influenced by the height of the sample. By expressing spriniginess as a ratio of its original height, comparisons can be made between a more broad set of samples and products. Chewiness only applies for solid products and is calculated as Gumminess*Springiness (which is Length1/Length2). Chewiness is mutually exclusive with Gumminess since a product would not be both a solid and a semi-solid at the same time. Gumminess only applies to semi-solid products and is Hardness *Cohesiveness (which is Area 2/Area1). Gumminess is mutually exclusive with Chewiness since a product would not be both a semi-solid and a solid at the same time. Resilience is how well a product "fights to regain its original position". You can think of it as instant springiness, since resilience is measured on the withdrawal of the first penetration, before the waiting period is started.

Springiness

Chewiness

Gumminess

Resilience

The calculation is the area during the withdrawal of the first compression, divided by the area of the first compression. (Area 5/Area4 on the below graph) Resilience is not always measured with TPA calculations, and was not a direct part of the original TPA work. Resilience can be measured with a single compression, however, the withdrawal speed must be the same as the compression speed.

Note that your Post-test speed must be the same as your Test speed so that both compressions are plott under identical circumstances, and the area integrations are fully comparable.
You only need the following three things to run TPA tests with Texture Expert: A TPA two compression graph should be on the screen A macro with TPA calculations should be in the Current Macro pull down box A TPA results file should be active

All of these items, plus your graph preferences, can be established in a Project, which could be launched by the click of a button. TPA Projects are comprised of:

test settings for the TPA test you want to use - so that the same desired type of test, the test speeds and distances all alway available to the project a graph preference file you want to use - so that the graphs are always plotted on the same conditions & scale. a TPA macro you want to you use - so that the calculated forces, areas and distances are always made under the same conditions a results file which has TPA calculations embedded

TPA test settings, macros, formulas and results files can be customized very simply.