Development of a Single Screw Extruder For The Production of Wood-Plastic Composite

Abstract

A wood-plastic composite extruder (single screw extruder) was designed, fabricated and evaluated to recycle and produce a product for non-structural purposes. The extruder is separated into four units: The feeding, conveying, heating and forming unit. The material is fed by gravity into a hopper and conveyed by a screw conveyor at a predetermined speed through a heated barrel and the extrudate is metered through the breaker plate and the die. The output rate is directly related to the screw speed. Test samples were produced with the machine and experimental tests were conducted to determine its suitability for non-structural purposes and applications. The performance evaluation test on the machine shows that at speeds of 4rpm and 50.25rpm, the machine performs at 87% and 82% efficiency respectively which makes it effective for production. The machine takes a maximum of 5mins to recycle a batch with an average capacity of 14.04kg/hr at 4rpm and 17.55kg/hr at 50.25rpm. The machine conserves cost and energy due to low specific mechanical energy consumption of 191.21kJ/kg