Abdullah M. Alhamdan; Hussain M. Sorour; Mahmoud A. Younis; Diaeldein O. Abdelkarim
The viscoelastic characteristics of dates at three stages of maturity were evaluated using a stress relaxation test. Three stress relaxation models (Generalized Maxwell, Peleg and Nussinovitch) were fitted to the experimental data. The initial imposed stress of dates at the Rutab stage declined by 99% at the Khalal stage; in contrast, the initial stress of dates at the Tamer stage was higher than that of dates at the Rutab stage. The Maxwell model was better to predict the experimental data, followed by the Peleg and Nussinovitch models. The best predictions of the three models were for dates at the Tamer stage, followed by those at the Rutab and Khalal stages of maturity.