PREPARATION OF BIOMASS SEEDLING TRAYS USING LIGNIN BONDING PROPERTIES AND DESIGN OF HEATING COMPRESSION FORMING MOLD

In the current agricultural production, widely used plastic seedling trays suffer from poor air permeability, poor water permeability, and slow degradation. Therefore, this study proposes the preparation of degradable seedling trays utilizing the bonding effect of lignin, and the design of a heating compression forming mold according to the size and forming requirements of the trays. Flexural strength of seedling trays and seedling experiments were conducted to verify the effectiveness of the preparation process and mold design. The experiment results showed that the heating function requirements of the mold can be achieved when the heating power of the electromagnetic induction heater was set to 3000 W, and the heating time of the frame was 60 s. The heating compression mold designed can ensure that the seedling trays were heated uniformly and have excellent mechanical properties during the forming process. Biomass seedling trays prepared using lignin bonding and specific raw material ratios performed well in terms of compressive strength, water resistance and degradability. During the seedling cycle, no rupture occurred in the seedling trays, and the growth of maize seedlings was good enough to meet the actual seedling needs. The results of the study provide new ideas and methods for the preparation of lignin bonding degradable biomass seedling trays, and the application of heating compression forming mold provides technical support for the efficient and large-scale production of seedling trays.