Determination of hardness and mechanical properties of pig claws in three Greek swine herds
1Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Thessaly, Karditsa, Greece.
2Department of Energy Systems, School of Technology, University of Thessaly, Larisa, Greece.
Research Article
GSC Advanced Research and Reviews, 2021, 06(03), 029-034.
Article DOI: 10.30574/gscarr.2021.6.3.0037
Publication history:
Received on 25 January 2021; revised on 28 February 2021; accepted on 02March 2021
Abstract:
Lameness in pigs is a major welfare and economic issue for swine breeding herds. Claw lesions have been suggested to be a significant cause for lameness in sows. Housing conditions and nutrition management on the farm influence horn quality and may be associated with the development of claw lesions in pigs.
The current work examines the structure as well as hardness, fracture and mechanical properties of claws retrieved from housing sows. For the mechanical characterisation of pig claws, an experimental program that includes three point bending test in claws was performed in order to obtain the resistance of the tissue under bending forces. The study also includes hardness measurements through Vickers method as well as inspection of the structure through Scanning Electron Microscopy. Experimental measurements show that the claw specimen behaves as a linear viscoelastic material. Measurements of hardness were found to be affected by the moisture content of the claws.
Keywords:
Claw horn; Elastic modulus; Hardness; Mechanical properties; Sow
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Copyright © 2021 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0
