Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 10, 2026

Introducing an Angle Adjustable Cutting Box for Analyzing Slice Shear Force in Meat
Published on: April 26, 2013
Heat- and shear-reversible networks in food: A review
Arkaye V Kierulf1,2, Judith K Whaley2, Weichang Liu2
1Department of Food Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.
Abstract:
While nature behaves like an irreversible network with respect to entropy and time, certain systems in nature exist that are, to some extent, reversible. The property of reversibility imparts unique benefits to systems that possess them, making them suitable for designing self-healing, stimuli-responsive, and smart materials that can be used in widely divergent fields. Reversible networks are currently being exploited for applications in tissue engineering, drug delivery, and soft robotics. They are also being utilized as low-calorie fat mimetics with melt-in-your-mouth textures, as well as being explored as potential scaffolds for three-dimensional (3D) printable food, among other applications. This review aims to gather representative examples of heat- and shear-reversible networks in the food science literature from the last 30 or so years, in other words, reversible food gels made either from linear biopolymers or from colloidal, particulate dispersions, including those that have been modified specifically to induce reversibility. An overview of the network mechanisms involved that impart reversibility, including a discussion of the strength and range of forces involved, will be highlighted. A model that explains why certain networks are thermoreversible while others are shear-reversible, and why others are both, will also be proposed. A fundamental understanding of these mechanisms will prove invaluable when designing reversible networks in the future, making possible the precise control of their properties, thus fostering innovative applications within the food industry and beyond.
Related Concept Videos
Second Law of Thermodynamics
Mechanism of heat transfer
Mechanisms of Heat Transfer I
Mechanisms of Heat Transfer II
Reversible and Irreversible Processes
Mechanisms of Heat Transfer
Conduction, accounting for approximately 3% of body heat loss at rest, is the process of exchanging heat between molecules of two materials in direct contact. This can result in both heat loss and gain. For instance, when the body is submerged in water, which conducts heat 20 times more effectively than air, it can either lose or gain significant heat.

