Impact of Excitation and Material Parameters on the Efficiency of Ultrasonic Cutting of Bakery Products

Cutting with tools excited by ultrasound is increasingly applied in the food industry, especially for cheese, confectionary, and bakery products. Due to the lack of a thorough understanding of the separation process, most of the ultrasonic cutting systems are designed and applied on the basis of empirical knowledge. The aim of the study was to elaborate the impact of ultrasonic parameters, that is, amplitude and frequency, on the cutting process, and special emphasis was placed on resulting effects in the close vicinity of the cutting edge, which are reflected by the separation forces. To allow a direct investigation of the mechanical separation without artifacts due to secondary effects such as melting and cavitation, the crumb of different bakery products (for example, dark and white bread, yeast dumplings, and cake) were analyzed. The results show that the influence of ultrasonic amplitude and frequency can be expressed by the maximum vibration speed on the cutting edge. For each product, an increasing maximum vibration speed results in a particular reduction of the cutting force and an increased quality of the cut. The magnitude of the cutting force reduction is inversely related to a material-specific parameter cx, which was calculated from the mechanical properties according to the speed-of-sound concept. Therefore, the determination of cx allows a specific adjustment of ultrasonic amplitude and frequency to achieve optimum cutting quality.