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Ahvaz, Iran Orumiyeh, Iran Date paste as an important date products, has found many applications in food industry in recent years. After production color change and solidifying of the date paste and aggravation during maintenance are considered as the major problems facing the date paste processing factories. This research has carried out in order to overcome the solidification of date paste (Kabkab cultivar) in a full factorial experiment with three factors of: date paste preparation method (two levels of immersion in hot water or steaming), added oil (sesame and olive oil as a preservative) and three type of packaging (cellophane, nano silicone and multi-layered) in a split plot design with preparation method as the main plot. Textural properties including hardness, Young's modulus, shear modulus, and the penetration work done were measured at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 months of storage using a texture analyser. The result confirms the positive effect of steaming for 10 minutes to maintain the softness paste during the test period. Date paste of firmness made from method of steaming and immersion in hot water is 0.02 N and 19 N respectively. The results confirmed positive effect of steaming for 10 minutes on date paste softening during storage at.    

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Butt weld friction stir welding of steel sheets with thicknesses of less than 1 mm has been known as one of the most important challenges in recent years. In this work, butt weld friction stir welding of IF (Interstitial free) steel with the thickness of 0.7 mm is studied experimentally. For this purpose the effects of rotational and travel speeds of the tool on the strength and hardness of welded joints is investigated. Mechanical strength of the joints is evaluated with uniaxial tensile test. Also, in this paper the microstructure evolutions of welded joints of IF steel sheets with the thickness of 0.7 mm are studied. The results show that with increasing in rotational speed and decreasing in travel speed of the tool, the tensile strength of welded joints will be increased. In addition, with increasing in rotational and travel speeds of the tool, the hardness of welded zone is increased. The results of microstructural investigations show that the microstructure of welded zone is improved with increasing in rotational and travel speeds of the tool. The results of EBSD analysis show that no significant changes have been occurred in the left side of stir zone in comparison to center of stir zone. Also, it is shown that the fraction of high angle grain boundaries in the center of stir zone has been increased than the left side of stir zone (from 25 % up to 48 %).