The requirement of UHT cream has been increased considerably. Several industries varied and increased their production, since consumers, more and more exigent, are demanding creams with a wide range of fat content. The objective of the present research was to determine the density, viscosity and thermal diffusivity of model solutions similar to cream. The range of temperature varied from 30°C to 70°C in order to study the influence of fat content and temperature in the physical properties of cream. The statistic method applied was the factorial 3X5 planning, with levels of fat content and temperature fixed in 15%, 25% and 35%; 30°C, 40°C, 50°C, 60°C and 70°C, respectively (STATISTICA 6.0). Both carbohydrates and proteins content were fixed at 3%. The density was determined by a method based on the displacement of fluids in a picnometer; the thermal diffusivity by Dickerson method and the viscosity by Rheotest 2.1 rheometer. The results of each property were analysed by the response surface method. For all the properties the results were significant, indicating that this model represented considerably the changes of thermal and physical properties of cream according to fat content and temperature variations.
thermal diffusivity; viscosity; density; model solutions; cream
