Tensile characteristics of ripe tomato skin

The mechanical properties of ripe tomato skin under uniaxial tension were characterized by strength, strain at failure, overall stiffness and degree of stiffening. All four parameters differed when different orientations were tested. Ripe tomato skin was found to be stronger in the transverse than in the longitudinal direction. The overall stiffness and the extent to which the stressstrain curve deviated from a straight line were estimated by the calculated constants of a simple mathematical model, using nonlinear regression technique, or linear regression of the model’s logarithmic transform.