Extrusion Auger Improvement Project

This project has designed a material treatment process to extend the lifespan of extrusion augers used by the social enterprise Appropriate Energy Saving Technologies (AEST) in Uganda. AEST uses an extruder machine to recycle agricultural waste into charcoal briquettes that they sell to low-income families. The auger components wore down quickly and needed a hardening process to remain useful for longer. The team built a custom pin-on-disk testing apparatus and used it along with optical microscopy to simulate and analyze the wear mechanism. The team then heat treated and tested additional samples to find the best treatment. The team suggested improving AEST's current case hardening process by increasing the case depth to 0.04 in (0.1016 cm) and using oil quenching.