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ABSTRACT FORCES applied to corn kernels, in handling, cause progressively increasing proportions of broken kernels, especially in corn which has been field shelled and artificially dried. Development of a damage sus-ceptibility testing instrument, along with test and cali-bration procedures would be of value to the grain in-dustry for predicting handling damage. In this study a small rigid-hammer mill was con-structed and used to establish that damage due to im-pact is a first-order reaction with time. Such reaction was described by a specific breakage rate and used to assess the effects of sieve size, mill speed, and kernel size, mois-ture content and temperature on the measured specific breakage rate.