Fig. 5: Comparing fluctuations in realtime internal temperature readings to maximum recorded internal temperature readings in laser-cooked printed chicken samples.

Since the laser provides pulsed heating, regions of the food will cool unless they have direct beam exposure, which is why we are comparing realtime with maximum recorded temperature as a way of visualizing the ambient cooling taking place during the cook cycle. For the following test cases, a single printed layer of chicken was used (2.5 mm × 24 mm × 24 mm), a trochoidal pattern with six shells was used with a consistent circle radius (1.5 mm). The shape of the cooking pattern used for (c–f) was the same with the only variation being the speed of the moving laser. The density of the circles for each successive ring decreased by 0.5 rev/mm for (c) while remaining constant at 12 rev/mm for (b). Shaded region for each line shows standard error from eight thermocouples in a single sample. a Cycle time of 149 s (2:29) with four repetitions (9:56). b Cycle time of 630 s (10:30). c Cycle time of 630 s (10:30). d Cycle time of 550 s (9:10). e Cycle time of 511 s (8:31). f Cycle time of 471 s (7:51). Shaded region for each line shows standard error from eight thermocouples.