Research on the densification process and constitutive model of gluten

This study aimed to investigate the single-die compression process of gluten and formulate a constitutive model. Regression models were established between indicators and significant factors with single-factor and response surface tests. The optimal parameter combination was a moisture content of 7.441%, compression speed of 0.146 mm s⁻¹, and compression load of 1.75 kN. The relative error between each indicator's experimental and predicted values was less than 2.866%. Rheological modeling of the densification forming and stress relaxation stages was carried out using the optimal parameters. The results showed that a piecewise nonlinear elastic-viscoplastic model effectively described the gluten densification process, with a relative error between experimental and predicted values of less than 3.428%. The five-element generalized Maxwell model (R² = 0.997) was more suitable for characterizing the stress relaxation of gluten densification.