Confectionery Holder

When penetrating a sample during a test it is common that the sample sometimes needs to be held down manually in order to avoid it being lifted up with the withdrawing probe. The penetration of a confectionery sample is typical examples when this may occur. The resulting measured forces of this occurrence will be displaying the weight of the material (and/or its supporting packaging) being lifted rather than the forces necessary to withdraw from the sample. If lifting of the sample occurs the graph that is obtained will not therefore reflect the entire true textural profile of the sample.

The holder comprises a base plate on which a second plate is supported by spring loaded screws. Both plates have 10mm holes in their centres. A sample is located between the plates so that a portion of it is exposed. This allows complete penetration and withdrawal from the sample, through the holes in the plates, whilst avoiding sample slippage or movement.

In order to measure the adhesion properties of a product it must be held down so that when the measuring probe withdraws from the product the product itself is not lifted up and therefore the forces measured are as a result of the separation of the two surfaces. This accessory is a holding device for samples in order for the adhesion properties to be measured.

• When needing to assess the stickiness of a product e.g. confectionery the product needs to be held down otherwise the sample would be lifted up when the probe attempts to withdraw.
• The aperture of the top plate is 9mm and therefore limits the test to that of penetration using a probe with a maximum diameter of 8mm.