ABSTRACT

Selected physical properties of cocoa pod (Amazonian cocoa) such as cocoa pod length, width, thickness, volume, surface area, and roundness, angle of repose, weight, bulk density and porosity were determined. Mechanical properties of cocoa pod were such as impact lest, hardness test, compressive strength test were also determined. From the results obtained, the mean values show that surface area is the most significant value obtained at 445cm, while bulk density, roundness and thickness were not statistically significant at 5% level of significance. In mechanical properties, hardness test of 15 samples were carried out and the results show that 60kgf HRA of force was used and various results were obtained. The minimum strength obtained was 0.00120N/mm2 at 0.17N, while maximum of 0.00403N/mm of compressive strength were obtained at 0.57N force. A lower mass of 296g absorbed 24joule of energy, while the maximum mass of 570g absorbed 42joule of energy. This indicates that weight does not signify the amount of energy absorbed, but, indicates the level of moisture contents in cocoa pod. The standard deviation result shows that hardness test was the most significant at 4018.19 (60kgf HRA case-A), while roundness is the least significant with 0.5325 of cocoa pod. Correlation coefficient was obtained with the relationship between moisture content and cocoa pod length, thickness, width and weight. From the results, it implies that the moisture contents increase with increase in cocoa pod length, Width, thickness and weight.