Development of a Novel Ultrasonic Spectroscopy Method for Estimation of Viscosity Change during Milk Clotting

Ultrasonic testing is an emerging non-destructive testing technology with high repeatability and precision. Milk is a very complex liquid and the change of its viscosity is a highly relevant property throughout conversion into other dairy products. In the following paper, we propose a novel method for the monitoring of viscosity during enzymatic milk clotting by ultrasonic spectroscopy. An ultrasonic transducer–receiver couple with a 250 kHz nominal frequency was submerged in the samples and an enveloped sweep (“chirp”) signal was applied in a through-transmission mode. Simultaneously, the change in viscosity was measured with a rotational viscometer at a constant shearing speed. The data were analyzed with an algorithm developed by the authors for spectral ultrasonic testing. Estimations yielded a high adjusted R(2) (0.963–0.998) and low cross-validated estimation error (RPD: 4.38–14.22), suggesting that the method is suitable for industrial use given the right instrumentation.