SOME PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SODOM APPLE (Calotropis Procera)

The aim of this research is to study some physical and mechanical properties of Sodom apple (Calitropis procera), to help in designing and developing of specific machine and their operations such as harvesting, cleaning, grading and separation. The main results in this study can be summarized as follows: Physical properties of Sodom apple seeds fruits: length= 5.19 - 6.98 mm, width = 3.16 – 5.87mm, thickness = 0.38 – 0.70 mm, geometric diameter= 1.99 – 2.82 mm, arithmetic diameter= 3.21- 3.77mm, flat surface area = 7.07- 9.84 mm^2, transverse surface area = 2.89- 5.06mm^2, volume 4.12 – 11.68 mm^3, mass of 1000 seeds = 5.84 – 7.05 g, bulk density = 200.97 kg/m^3, real density = 929.50 kg/m^3and moisture content= 8.43 % w.b. Mechanical properties: The lowest values of repose angle for seeds were on fiber glass followed by galvanized sheet, plywood, rubber and the highest on perforated sheet (20.86◦ , 34.81◦ , 48.86◦ , 55.63◦ and 62.46◦ ) respectively. Tensile strength between fibers and seeds was 0.0986N.