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China is the largest producer and exporter of Lentinus edodes in the world. To improve its market value, twin-screw extrusion and expansion machine has been developed to further process the Lentinus edodes. To resolve the problems of blockage, low prematurity and missing operation parameters of this machine in producing Lentinus edodes pufferent, we presented an improved twin-screw extrusion and expansion machine in this paper to lower puffer ability, improve water absorption and reduce its hardness. The equipment consists of a frame, a mixing device, a feeding device, a tempering device, a heating device, an extruding and bulking device and a rotary cutting device. It is equipped with a cooling system, a lubricating system, a transmission system, a control system and a pressure detection system. Design and determination of the anti-blocking device for the feed mixing device, the pre-maturing and tempering device, and the structural parameters of the twin screw were conducted. In order to investigate the influence of operation parameters on swelling performance of the product, the Box-benhnken combined test method was used to study the working parameters of the double screw extruder. The effects of screw speed, extrusion temperature and water content on the swelling rate, hardness, brittleness and water absorption of the expanded product were analyzed, and the determinants were optimized. The results showed that, based on the level of the significance, 1) factors affecting the expansion rate were ranked in material water content > expansion temperature > screw speed, 2) factors affecting hardness were ranked in material moisture content > screw speed > swelling temperature, 3) factors affecting brittleness were ranked in material moisture content > screw speed, 4) factors affecting water absorption were ranked in material moisture content > swelling temperature > screw speed. The optimal operating parameters were: screw speed 167.23 r/min, swelling temperature 151.68℃, material moisture content 16.83%. Under these conditions, the swelling rate, hardness, brittleness and water absorption of the product were increased by 4.04%, 18.61 N, -8.46 mm/cm2 and 313.86% respectively, compared to the traditional machine. Practical application of the optimized parameters revealed that the error between the optimized productivity and real productivity was less than 4%, with the maximum productivity being 165 kg/h. Compared with the existing equipment in the laboratory at School of Mechanical Engineering in Yangzhou University, the designed machine increased the swelling rate, brittleness, water adsorption and brittleness by 25.00%, 40.55% and 62.35% respectively, while reducing the hardness by 48.21%. Therefore, the design of this machine can provide relatively mature technical equipment for the development of mushroom swelling products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]