Stress development in shrinking slabs during drying

A model has been developed to predict the moisture and stress profiles in shrinking biopolymers during drying. The shrinkage is expressed in the form of a non-equilibrium deformation viscosity, a property that is inherently dependent on the glass transition temperature (T a) of the matrix and on the temperature of drying (T). The difference between these temperatures, i.e. T – T g, controls the rate at which shrinkage occurs during drying.