Heat
conductivity was determined using a Hewlett Packard
data acquisition/switch unit 34970A (USA), with a heat
conductivity probe based on a hot-wire element (manufactured by M. Morley, UK). Samples were tempered
in a closed vessel using an ultra-thermostat UH4
(Germany). The particle sizes for egg white and starch
were determined using a particle size analyser Analysette
22 (Germany). Samples were dispersed in ethanol. For
the remaining materials, particle distribution and particle size was determined using a digital photograph of the
particles with a scale, which was processed by a software
application Lucia (image analysis software, Czech
Republic). Initial moisture content of materials was
predicted by drying method (24 h at 105 C). An overview of thermo-physical properties is given in Table 1
below.