Throughout our 9 weeks in lab we conducted many trials and faced many errors. With failures came many lessons, below are what we believe to be the most useful lessons learned during our concrete journey. 

• Chicken wire works best for a steel mesh reinforcement to use in concrete. We used hardware cloth with ¼ inch gaps. 

  • • needed metal flexible enough to form around the pot. 

• If it is not possible to use a mold, use cardboard and duct tape and form the concrete around a pot that will be used in the ISEC

  • • first cover pot with oil

    • then cover duct tape with oil

    • If possible, the lip of the piece could be placed in a mold and then vibrated for a nice surface finish. Pictures of us doing this can be seen in the final lab log. 

When using a mold, the mold must be tapered and covered with something hydrophobic like duct tape or oil. 

• We used duct tape and engine oil and it wouldn't stick the mold. 

• Cardboard around a pot also works as a great insert inside the mold. 

• Use a vibration method (we used a massage gun) to settle concrete in mold (if using one) and get rid of air bubbles for a smooth finish.

• A taper (or draft angle) of at least a couple degrees should be sufficient. 

Our group focused on creating elements of an ISE cooker out of concrete. We found that the best methods for creating concrete elements were using a mold or shaping the concrete over a pot to be used in the ISEC. 

• We would recommend groups interested in building multiple of the same piece to use a mold. A mold has higher cost but makes it easier to shape the piece with a quality surface finish. 

  • Molds can also be used multiple times in conjunction with a method of vibration to settle concrete into the mold.

• We would recommend groups interested in only building one ISEC to use a pot covered in cardboard and duct tape to build the concrete piece. The method is slower and results in a lesser quality surface finish but it is cheaper and still works effectively. 

It is our hope that, in the future, people creating ISEC's will consider creating the inner shell out of concrete. Concrete is non-conductive, so it acts as a very good insulating shell, unlike aluminum or other materials often used to build the insulating shell. It is also strong, easily accessible in developing countries, and cheap, making it an appropriate technology.

Other groups continuing our work should investigate the following areas:

• Making a vibration method that can be inserted into the concrete like methods used in commercial settings instead of applied to the outside of a mold. 

• We never were successful in making a mold that where we were able to remove the mold without damaging it. It would be productive to build a mold that was reusable. 

• The methods of creating the concrete and molding it can be further improved and investigated. 

• The molds and concrete methods we researched still need to be implemented in Uganda. Another group can continue to work with these groups to make sure they are able to make their desired concrete pieces.