RESEARCH ARTICLE

Measurement of thermal properties of white

radish (R. raphanistrum) using easily
constructed probes
Mfrekemfon Samuel Obot1,2, Changcheng Li1, Ting Fang1, Jinquan Chen1*

1 College of Food Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian, China, 2 Department
of Agricultural and Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Uyo, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State,
Nigeria

a1111111111 * [email protected]
a1111111111
a1111111111
a1111111111
a1111111111 Abstract
Thermal properties are necessary for the design and control of processes and storage facili-
ties of food materials. This study proposes the measurement of thermal properties using
easily constructed probes with specific heat capacity calculated, as opposed to the use of
OPEN ACCESS Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) or other. These probes were constructed and used
Citation: Obot MS, Li C, Fang T, Chen J (2017) to measure thermal properties of white radish in the temperature range of 80–20˚C and
Measurement of thermal properties of white radish moisture content of 91–6.1% wb. Results showed thermal properties were within the range
(R. raphanistrum) using easily constructed probes.
of 0.71–0.111 Wm-1 C-1 for thermal conductivity, 1.869×10−7–0.72×10−8 m2s-1 for thermal
PLoS ONE 12(3): e0171016. doi:10.1371/journal.
pone.0171016 diffusivity and 4.316–1.977 kJ kg-1C-1for specific heat capacity. These results agree with
reports for similar products studied using DSC and commercially available line heat source
Editor: Xiao-Dong Wang, North China Electric
Power University, CHINA probes. Empirical models were developed for each property through linear multiple regres-
sions. The data generated would be useful in modeling and control of its processing and
Received: July 24, 2016
equipment design.
Accepted: January 13, 2017

Published: March 13, 2017

Copyright: © 2017 Obot et al. This is an open

access article distributed under the terms of the Introduction
Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and Thermal properties are those physical properties of a material that are significant in heat trans-
reproduction in any medium, provided the original fer problems[1]. Some of these properties include: dimensional characteristics, density, fluid
author and source are credited. viscosity, unit surface conductance latent heat, specific heat, thermal conductivity, thermal
Data Availability Statement: The dataset can be emissivity, thermal diffusivity, coefficient of thermal expansion etc. The dependence of these
found online at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/ properties on the temperature of the materials’ ambience and their moisture content is neces-
PANGAEA.871095. sary in the modeling, simulation and equipment design of various food processing operations
Funding: This research was funded by National [2]. Process thermal controls can only be put to use by the precise knowledge of the thermal
Natural Science Foundation of China, http://www. properties of the food. The primary thermal properties are specific heat capacity (at constant
nsfc.gov.cn/ (grant number 31401597; funding pressure), thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity. The specific heat energy measures the
received by TF); and High Level University amount of energy that is required to raise the temperature of a body by 1˚C; thermal conduc-
Construction Funds: Research on the innovation of
tivity is an intrinsic property which measures the ability of a substance to conduct heat, while
the Sub Tropical Special Agricultural Products
processing and Safety Control Technology (grant
thermal diffusivity is the ability of a material to conduct thermal energy relative to its ability to
number 612014042; funding received by The store energy. To calculate heat transfer in a food, its thermal properties, geometry and thermal
Dean, College of Food Science, Fujian Agriculture processing condition are used as the major parameters [3].

PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0171016 March 13, 2017 1 / 13

 Thermal properties of white radish

and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China). The Compositional model is used when there are no empirical data for the agricultural product.
funders had no role in study design, data collection It calculates the desired parameter based on the composition of product as proposed by an
and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of
early researcher. According to [4], it is not always accurate to use the general compositional
the manuscript.
model to predict thermal properties of each specific food material based on its compositions
Competing interests: The authors have declared and temperature because this assumes that each component has the same thermal properties
that no competing interests exist.
regardless of structure in different food materials.
Differential scanning calorimeter and KD2 pro (thermal properties analyser produced by
Decagon devices) are the equipments that are mostly used in the studies of thermal properties
of material but due to their high cost, they are not always available. In view of this, [5] had pro-
posed a new device to measure the thermal property of polystyrene and compared his results
with that produced by the differential scanning calorimeter. The equipment according to the
author is easy to construct. However the thermal properties of high moisture biomaterials may
not be easy to be measured using the equipment proposed by[5]. The equation connecting the
primary thermal properties is:

a¼ 1
rCp

where α: thermal diffusivity; : thermal conductivity; ρ: density; Cp: specific heat capacity.
White radish is an important vegetable in many countries. White radish belongs to the Cru-
ciferae or mustard family and is a biennial. This root is getting so important. Apart from its
culinary uses [6], has it that radish root contains some coumarins, enzymes, organic acids,
phenolic compounds and some sulphuric compounds. To the knowledge of the authors of this
work, there is no data for the thermal properties of white radish in the literature. Therefore,
this study demonstrates the measurement of thermal properties using the inexpensive thermal
property (line heat source) probes in the temperature range of 80–20˚C and moisture content
of 91–6.1% wb. The constructed probes were able to generate data that could be compared to
that of similar crops in the literature. The data and the models obtained from this study will be
useful for the storage, process design and control of this economically important vegetable.

Materials and methods

Materials
The white radish roots used for this experiment were bought from a local store in Fuzhou city
near to the east gate of Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, 26˚50 16@N 119˚140 6@E,
Fujian Province P R China. The radish roots had an initial moisture content of 91% wet basis
as determined by drying a known weight in a hot air oven for 24 hrs at 105˚C. Fresh radish
roots were cut into same size and volume by using a stainless steel cylinder to bore the root
(this was done for uniformity of conditioning results), these were conditioned to desired mois-
ture content by drying in a hot air oven at 70˚C for 0 hr, 2 hrs, 5 hrs and 9.5 hrs which corre-
sponded to 91, 64, 31 and 6.1% moisture content (wb) respectively. They were further grated
using a hand held grater and filled into the sample holder for further analysis. The bulk density
was measured as mass/volume after filling into the sample holder
Thermal conductivity probe. A line heat source probe was used to measure thermal con-
ductivity. It was designed for this study following the description of [2]. The probe was made
of a stainless steel needle containing a T -type thermocouple and a constantan heating wire as
shown in Fig 1A, the stainless steel needle was 110 mm long and 2.02 mm in diameter. The
heating wire (0.47 mm diameterand 200 mm long) and the thermocouple (0.64 mm diameter
and 55 mm long) were inserted into the needle. The heating wire was bent into two equal parts

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 Thermal properties of white radish

Fig 1. The thermal property probes apparatus and their experimental setup. a) Thermal conductivity probe. b) Cylindrical
sample container. c) Thermal diffusivity probe. d) Experimental set up for the thermal conductivity. e) Experimental setup for the
thermal diffusivity.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0171016.g001

length wise with its ends joint to connecting wires thus having its entire length within the
probe. It was calibrated using 0.5% agar solution, glycerin and powdered milk at 30˚C.
The cylindrical sample container (Fig 1B) was a stainless steel tube of 150 mm long, 28 mm
diameter and 1.5 mm thick. Both ends of the tube were covered with Teflon material- one end
was permanently sealed while the other end was temporary sealed after filling in the sample.
Thermal diffusivity probe. The thermal diffusivity probe designed for this study was
made of a stainless steel needle containing a T-type thermocouple as shown in Fig 1C. The
needle was 0.6 mm in diameter and 70 mm long. The length of the thermocouple within the
needle was as 69 mm and connected to a data logger. The probe was calibrated using water
according to the method described by [7]: The sample container was filled with water of at
60˚C with the thermal diffusivity probe inserted and placed in a thermostatic water bath con-
taining water at 10˚C and the time-temperature data was logged with a data logger.
Data logger. The data logging was done using Tracer DAQ (USB 200 series) of Measure-
ment Computing Corporation USA, connected to a computer.

Methods
Thermal diffusivity. The prepared material was tightly filled into cylindrical sample con-
tainer and then covered. The thermal diffusivity probe was then inserted length wise at the
center of the tube through the Teflon cover and then the hole through which the needle passed
was sealed with a water resistant sealant. This assembly was put into the thermostatic water

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 Thermal properties of white radish

bath at 80, 60 or 40˚C. The temperature time graph of both the core of the tube (sample) and
the water bath were logged by the data logger until the sample temperature equated the set
water bath temperature. Schematic diagram of the setup was as shown in Fig 1E.
Thermal diffusivity was determined using the 1D Fourier equation applied to a cylinder. It
has a high precision and does not depend on the exact place which the temperature is mea-
sured but has high accuracy when measured at the core of the cylinder [7]. A graph of lnΘ = f
(t) was drawn The dimensionless temperature, Θ was calculated from Eq 2. And the thermal
diffusivity was calculated from the curve according to [7] using Eq 3. Each experiment was
done four times and the mean value was reported.
Tc Tb
Y¼ 2
T0 Tb

Where Tc, Tb and T0 are temperature at the core of the sample container, temperature of the
water bath and initial temperature of the sample respectively, all in ˚C.
1  r 2
a¼ 3
t 2:045
Where α = thermal diffusivity, m2 s-1, τ = time constant, r = radius of the sample container, m
Prediction equation for thermal diffusivity. The Marten’s equation (Eq 4) was used for
the prediction of the thermal diffusivity. Its prediction was compared to the prediction of the
empirical equation of this study and the experimental data. This equation was appropriate
because it includes the addition of temperature to moisture content for the prediction of ther-
mal diffusivity.
6
a ¼ ð0:057363M þ 0:000288ðT þ 273ÞÞ  10 4

where α = bulk thermal diffusivity (m2s-1), T = temperature (˚C) and M = moisture content (g
water/g product)
Thermal conductivity. The experiment was done by inserting the thermal conductivity
probe into the center of the cylindrical sample container which was tightly filled with pre-
pared sample. The prepared samples in the container were equilibrated in a thermostatic
water bath at temperatures of 40, 60 or 80˚C, depending on the experiment. A digital mul-
timeter (Zhaoxin RXN-303D, China) which also acted as a D.C power supply was preset to
1.51 A and 8.3 V by the use of a sliding rheostat. The setup was as shown in Fig 1C. When
the sample temperature reached equilibrium with the water temperature, the heater wire
was energized using the regulated DC power supply consisting of 1.51 A and 8.3 V (and
maintained by the variable resistor (rheostat) during the experiment) to allow a heat trans-
fer from the probe to the surrounding sample in a radial fashion. The resulting temperature
rise was measured using the thermocouple located in the probe (T type thermocouple) and
recorded every second over the course of a 5 min period using the data logger [2,8]. A graph
of T (temperature) versus ln (t) (time) was plotted and the thermal conductivity was calcu-
lated using Eq 5. Each experiment had at least 5 replicates.
Q
¼ 5
4pS
Where Q = Heat input = I2×R, I = current (A) and R = resistance (O), = thermal conduc-
tivity (Wm-1˚C-1), S = slope of the straight portion of the graph
The prediction equation used for the thermal conductivity was the one proposed by [9] for
the thermal conductivity, its prediction was compared to that predicted by the experimental
data and the empirical equation of this study.

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 Thermal properties of white radish

Specific heat capacity. The specific heat capacity was calculated using Eq 1.The prediction
equation used for the thermal conductivity was the one proposed by [9] for the specific heat.
Its prediction was compared to the experimental data and that predicted by the empirical
equation of this study.

Experimental design
The experiments were conducted at four levels of moisture content (6.1%, 31%, 64% and 91%
wb) and 4 levels of temperature (20, 40, 60, and 80˚C). Each experiment was done at least four
times and the average value was used for analysis. Linear multiple regressions were carried out
at 95% confidence interval to determine the effects and significance of each parameter for each
thermal property studied using SPSS 16

Results and discussions

The moisture content at fresh weight was 91% wet basis. The results of the thermal conductiv-
ity probe calibration were 0.630 (±0.012) Wm-1˚C-1 for 5% agar gel, 0.0653 (±0.001) Wm-1˚C-1
for powdered milk respectively. These were compared to the values published by [10] which
were 0.628 Wm-1˚C-1 and 0.0650 Wm-1˚C-1 for 5% agar gel and powdered milk respectively at
30˚C.

Thermal conductivity
The bulk thermal conductivity of white radish for moisture content of 91% to 6.1% moisture
content and at temperature of 80–20˚C was found to vary from 0.71 to 0.111 W m-1˚C-1. Fig 2
shows the thermal conductivity of white radish and its variation with both moisture and tem-
perature. For each level of moisture studied, the thermal conductivity of white radish increased
with increase in temperature, at a given temperature the thermal conductivity also increased
with increase in moisture content.
Both factors were found to be highly significant after being correlated using linear multiple
regression at 95% confidence interval. The effect of moisture on thermal conductivity of radish
was higher than that of temperature and more significant. At Fresh weight (91% moisture con-
tent), effect of temperature at the range studied (80–20˚C) was 0.09 Wm-1˚C-1. However, at
subsequent moisture content of 64, 31 and 6.1%, the effects of temperature changed to 0.12,
0.11 and 0.069 Wm-1˚C-1 respectively. Higher moisture content exhibited higher thermal con-
ductivity possibly because of the higher the number of ions and dipoles. High temperatures
therefore caused high gyration of available ions and dipoles enabling faster heat transfer [11].
At lower moisture there are fewer ions and dipoles leading to slower heat transfer. This may
explain the high effects of moisture content over temperature. The relationship between the
temperature and moisture content of radish on the thermal conductivity was done using a
multiple regression correlation (Eq 6).
¼ 0:006 þ 2  10 3 T þ 0:61M 6

Table 1 shows the empirical equation for this relationship and its statistical information
where T and M respectively represent temperature and moisture content within the range of
this study. The high R2 and a low standard error of estimate are as a result of a good agreement
between the model and measured data. It is worth mentioning that the values of from this
study was within the range reported in the literature of high moisture agricultural product:
0.668 Wm-1˚C-1 for straw mushroom [4]; 0.57 Wm-1˚C-1 for cassava, 70% wb at 30˚C [12];

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 Thermal properties of white radish

Fig 2. The experimental data (with error bars) showing the variation of thermal conductivity of radish.
Temperature range of 20 and 80˚C and moisture content of Δ 91, ^ 64, □ 31, and × 6.1% moisture content
(wb).
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0171016.g002

0.70 for spinach [13]; 0.60 for yam, 79% wb at 24.8˚C. [11,14] also reported thermal conductiv-
ity as low as in this this study for lower moisture content and using the same method.
The [9] model for thermal conductivity (Eq 7) was used to estimate and to compare its esti-
mations to that of the empirical model and the experimental data from this study (Fig 3)
where the empirical equation for thermal conductivity of white radish was Eq 6 and compared
to that of [9]. It was observed that both models followed the same trend.

¼ 0:015 þ 0:0019T þ 0:59M 7

Thermal diffusivity
Bulk thermal diffusivity is mostly calculated in reported literature from thermal conductivity,
density and specific heat capacity. The equipment used in measuring the specific heat capacity
is usually expensive (such as the differential scanning calorimeter), hence a probe was designed
to measure the thermal diffusivity in this study. The probe used was calibrated by measuring

Table 1. Regression empirical equation for the thermal conductivity of white radish and its statistical
information.
Empirical model F-value P-value R2 SEE
3
¼ 0:006 þ 2  10 T þ 0:61M 405.04 0.00 0.984 0.074

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0171016.t001

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 Thermal properties of white radish

Fig 3. Experimental data and predicted thermal conductivity of white radish in temperature range of 80–20˚C. a) 91%
wb (b) 64% wb (c) 31% wb (d) 6.1% wb. ^ = Experimental data. □ = Empirical equation from Table 1. ¼ 0:006 þ 2  10 3 T þ
0:61M (R2 = 0.984) (0.061<M<0.91, 20<T(C) < 80). Δ = Vagenas et al, (1990) equation ¼ 0:015 þ 0:0019T þ 0:59M. (R2 =
0.980) (0.3<M<0.95, 0<T(C) <90).
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0171016.g003

the thermal diffusivity of water as it cooled from 60 to 10˚C which yielded 1.482×10−7 m2s-1.
The value in the reference article [7] was 1.498×10−7 m2s-1which resulted in 1.0 percent differ-
ence. The maximum value for the diffusivity of white radish in this study was 1.869×10−7 m2s-1
which was the value for the fresh weight at 80˚C while the lowest value was 0.72×10−8 m2s-1 at
6.1% moisture at 20˚C. The results of the thermal diffusivity of white radish roots are shown
on Fig 4. The results showed that increase in temperature made the radish roots at particular
moisture content be more diffusive. Thermal diffusivity increased linearly with the increase in
temperature and moisture. This is in agreement with reported research on agricultural prod-
ucts. A multiple regression was carried out to correlate the effects of moisture and temperature
on the thermal diffusivity of white radish (Eq 8). The empirical model and its statistical infor-
mation are on Table 2, where T and M respectively are temperature and moisture content

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 Thermal properties of white radish

Fig 4. Observed variation of thermal diffusivity of white radish roots with temperature (with error
bars). Temperature range of 20 and 80˚C and moisture content of Δ 91, ^ 64, and × 6.1% moisture content
(w.b).
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0171016.g004

within the range of this study.

α ¼ ð0:669 þ 3  10 3 T þ 1:02MÞ  10 7
8

The high F-value, R2 and low Standard error of estimate indicate a good fit of this model to
the experimental values. The effects of the two factors were seen to be significant at the confi-
dence interval of 95% but as in the case of thermal conductivity, the effect of moisture is more
significant as shown by their coefficients in the empirical equation. This is in agreement with
earlier researches by [4,15,16]. Other researchers also reported increase of thermal diffusivity
with increasing moisture content [12,17,18]. Marten’s equation (Eq 9) was used as the predic-
tion model for the thermal diffusivity of white radish. Fig 5 compares the Martens model (Eq
9), the empirical model (Eq 8) and the experimental data. The R2 for the two models are very

Table 2. Regression empirical equation for the thermal diffusivity of white radish and its statistical information.
Empirical model F-value P-value R2 SEE
−3 −7
α = (0.669 + 3 × 10 T + 1.02M) × 10 165.45 0.00 0.967 0.074
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0171016.t002

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 Thermal properties of white radish

Fig 5. Experimental data and predicted thermal diffusivity of white radish. a) 91% wb (b) 64% wb (c) 31% wb (d) 6.1% wb. ^ =
Experimented data. □ = Empirical equation from Table 2. α = (0.669 + 3 × 10−3T + 0.1M) × 10−7 (R2 = 0.967) (0.061<M<0.91, 20<T (˚C)
< 80). Δ = Martens equation α = 0.057363M + 0.000288(T + 273) × 10−6 (R2 = 0.9512).
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0171016.g005

close in terms of values

6
a ¼ 0:057363M þ 0:000288ðT þ 273Þ  10 9

Specific heat capacity

The specific heat capacity (at constant pressure) as the amount of heat needed to raise the tem-
perature of a substance by 1˚C was calculated from Eq 10 which is a rearranged form of Eq 1.

cp ¼ 10
ra

where Cp is the specific heat capacity (kJ kg-1˚C-1), ρ is the density (kgm-3), = thermal
conductivity

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 Thermal properties of white radish

Fig 6. Observed variation of Specific heat capacity of white radish roots. Temperature range of 20 and
80˚C and moisture content of Δ 91, ^ 64, □ 31 and × 6.1% moisture content (w.b).
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0171016.g006

The bulk density ranged between 980 and 780.2 kg m-3. The specific heat capacity of white
radish in this study was between 4.316 and 1.977 kJ kg-1˚C-1. The value of specific heat for the
product at fresh weight (91% wb) was in the range of values reported in the literature for agri-
cultural products of about the same moisture content and temperature. The specific heat
capacity of straw mushroom at 90% (wb) was reported as 4.008 kJ kg-1 C-1 [4], while that of
spinach was 4.3 kJ kg-1 C-1, [13]. The reported values in the literature though measured using
the differential scanning Calorimeter (DSC), are in agreement with our results. The specific
heat capacity of radish like the thermal diffusivity and the thermal conductivity increased with
the increase in temperature for each level of moisture content studied (Fig 6). The correlation
between the moisture content and temperature shows that the two factors were highly signifi-
cant with moisture content being more significant than temperature. The empirical model, Eq
11 is shown on Table 3 (with its statistical information) where T and M respectively are tem-
perature and moisture content within the range of this study.

Cp ¼ 1:472 þ 0:011T þ 2:22M 11

The high R2, high F- value and low standard error of the estimate indicate the goodness of
fit. The model used for the estimation of the specific heat capacity of white radish was the[9]
model for specific heat capacity(Eq 12). Fig 7 shows the estimations of [9] (Eq 12), empirical

Table 3. Regression empirical equation for the bulk specific heat of white radish and its statistical information.

Regression equation F value P value R2 SEE

Cp = 1.472 + 1.1 × 10−2T + 2.22M 345.06 0.00 0.982 0.1143

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0171016.t003

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 Thermal properties of white radish

Fig 7. Experimental data and predicted specific heat capacity of white radish. a) 91% w. b (b) 64% wb (c) 31% wb (d) 6.1% wb. ^ =
Experimental data. □ = Empirical equation from Table 3. Cp = 1.472 + 0.011T + 2.22M (R2 = 0.982) (0.061<M<0.91, 20<T (˚C) < 80). Δ = Vagenas
et al, (1990) equation Cp = 1.54 + 2.03 × 10−4T + 2.627M (R2 = 0.9612) (0.3<M<0.95, 0<T (˚C) <90).
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0171016.g007

model (Table 3) and the experimental data. The R2 for the two models were above 0.9.

Cp ¼ 1:54 þ 2:03  10 4 T þ 2:627M 12

Conclusion
The thermal properties of white radish were measured using easily constructed line heat source
probe and the thermal diffusivity probe in this study and the effects of temperature and mois-
ture on white radish were evaluated within the range of 20–80˚C and 91–6.1% wb respectively.
The thermal conductivity was between 0.71 and 0.111 W m-1˚C-1, the thermal diffusivity was
between 1.869×10−7 m2s-1 and 0.72×10−8 m2s-1 and the specific heat was between 4.316 and
1.977 kJ kg-1˚C-1.Our results were in agreement with earlier studies in terms of range of values
and in the trend of results. The results of this study were fitted to appropriate thermal property
models in each case. They all had good fits showing the reliability of the measured data. The
specific heat capacity was calculated from the values measured with the thermal conductivity
and diffusivity probes. Both thermal diffusivity and specific heat were in the range reported in

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 Thermal properties of white radish

the literature for materials with similar properties. The regression models from this study may
be used to control storage and processing of white radish.
The data generated is very important and can be used in proper processing of white radish

Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to other members of our laboratory who are too numerous to mention
for their various contributions during this study.

Author Contributions
Conceptualization: MO.
Data curation: MO.
Formal analysis: MO.
Funding acquisition: TF.
Investigation: MO.
Methodology: MO.
Project administration: JC TF.
Resources: CL JC.
Supervision: JC TF.
Validation: MO CL.
Visualization: MO.
Writing – original draft: MO.
Writing – review & editing: MO JC.

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