Method for processing a molded tray based on bamboo shavings

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for processing a molded tray based on bamboo shavings, comprising: extracting, crushing, mixing, drying, separating by wind separation, heat balance treatment, mixing glue, paving and hot pressing, cooling and grinding, inspecting and warehousing. In the invention, the industrial trays are manufactured by bamboo materials. The bamboo materials do not include bamboo peels and other impurities. The use of bamboo materials can improve the quality of trays from raw materials and increase the strength of trays. The industrial trays made by the processing method of the present invention have increased the weight supporting capacity by at least 1.5 times compared to ordinary trays, and the product's service life is 3 to 5 years in normal uses (no water soaking, no overpressure).

Claims

1. A method for processing a molded tray based on bamboo shavings, comprising the following steps in the order of: (1) extracting: collect scrap bamboo materials, remove bamboo peels and any materials other than bamboo and bamboo peels from scrap bamboo material, and remove rotted or quasi-rotted bamboo materials with a moisture content of greater than 20%, to form an extracted raw material; (2) crushing: deliver the extracted raw materials to a crusher to crush into bamboo material segments with a length of no more than 5 cm, and then shave with a shaving machine to form the bamboo shavings having length <30 mm, width <4 mm, and thickness <1.5 mm; (3) drying: put the bamboo shavings into trays which are resistant to at least 170 C., then dry in a drying oven, place the trays by layers in the drying oven, with a distance between two directly adjacent trays of not less than 38 cm, a stacking thickness of bamboo shavings in each tray does not exceed 2.5 cm, a drying temperature is maintained at 160-170 C., a drying time is 25-30 min, and a moisture content of shavings after drying does not exceed 1% in mass percent; (4) separating by wind separation: the dried bamboo shavings are subjected to purification by cyclone separation and pulse dust removal, to remove any materials other than powders and bamboo shaving materials from the dried bamboo shavings and powders, and obtain bamboo shaving materials with a mass purity greater than 98% after separation; (5) heat balance treatment: place bamboo shaving materials with a mass purity greater than 98% in a confined space in batches, with a thickness of each batch of no more than 5 cm, and a volume of each batch of no more than 0.5 cubic meter, the density of bamboo shavings of each batch does not exceed 0.06 g/cm.sup.2, and a spacing between each batch of bamboo shavings does not exceed 20 cm, to facilitate an exchange of heat and moisture between each batch of bamboo shavings, multiple batches of bamboo shavings that are left at room temperature are subjected to heat balance treatment at least once a batch through an internal circulation of air in the confined space, a time for the heat-balance treatment is 5 to 8 minutes, and a quantity for the heat-balance treatment is not less than 50 batches of bamboo shavings; (6) mixing glue: feed bamboo shavings and glues to a mixer at a volume ratio of 1:0.18-0.22, and stir 3 minutes at a stirring speed of 100-200 rpm, a stirring quantity for 3 minutes each time does not exceed 60 kg, and mixture materials of bamboo shavings and glues after stirring are put into a bucket for later use; (7) paving and hot pressing: according to the size and specification of the tray, after metering and weighing, put the mixture materials of bamboo shavings and glues in a mold for paving, the paving should at least fill the mold, and the upper surface of the mold is leveled, surplus materials are recycled, after paving, perform hot pressing, with an upper mold which is heated to 150 C., a lower mold which is heated to 130 C., firstly perform initial hot pressing with both the upper mold and the lower mold for 150 seconds at a pressure of 10 MPa, after the initial pressing, maintain hot pressing for 70 seconds at a pressure of 5 MPa, at the end of pressure holding, the pressure is relieved, the pressure relief refers to the process of reducing the pressure from the holding pressure to zero and the time of pressure relief is 90 seconds, carry out cooling while relieving the pressure, and when the pressure relieving is finished, a temperature of both molds is dropped to less than 100 C.; (8) cooling and grinding: take out workpieces made by the paving and hot pressing from the upper and lower molds after pressure relief, and place to a rack for cooling, the rack is placed in a room temperature ventilation room, to avoid water, an indoor air humidity is not more than 35%, and if the indoor air humidity is higher than 35%, dehumidify and then place the workpieces to the rack which is a multi-layer bracket, a spacing between each layer of the bracket is not less than 48 cm and the spacing between two directly adjacent racks is not less than 30 cm, a cooling time is 1-2 days, after cooling, the workpieces are delivered to an automatic edge grinding machine for grinding, and edge grinding is required to remove or flatten a spiked portion of a workpiece edge; and (9) inspecting and warehousing: inspect the workpieces after grinding, including hardness, moisture content, edge roughness, and shape, unqualified products are removed according to finished product requirements, qualified products are stacked in batches according to a required quantity.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a flow chart of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Example 1

(2) A method for processing a molded tray based on bamboo shavings, comprising the following steps: (1) Extracting: collect scrap bamboo processing materials, remove bamboo peels and other impurities, and remove rotted or quasi-rotted bamboo materials with a moisture content of greater than 20%. The quasi-rotted materials refer to the materials with a rot surface area of more than 40% but no rot inside the surface. Although this part of materials has low rot degree, due to rotted material on the surface and high surface water content, it is easy to cause impact on other materials, to accelerate the overall rot speed. Therefore, they must be eliminated absolutely; (2) Crushing: deliver the extracted raw materials to a crusher to crush into bamboo material segments with a length of no more than 5 cm, and then shave with a shaving machine to form bamboo shavings having length of 29 mm, width of 3.8 mm, and thickness of 1.4 mm. Firstly cut before crushing the materials, to easily form bamboo shavings of desired size. The key for molding of bamboo shavings is to cut as thin as possible, by this way, the time to achieve an ideal effect can be shortened in the subsequent steps of drying and heat balance treatment; (3) Drying: Loosely put the bamboo shavings into a tray that is resistant to high temperature and poor in thermal conductivity, then dry in a drying oven. Place the trays by layers in a drying oven, with a distance between two adjacent trays of 40 cm. The stacking thickness of bamboo shavings in each tray is 3 cm, the drying temperature is maintained at 160 C., the drying time is 15 min, and the moisture content of shavings after drying is 1% in mass percent. The moisture content of the bamboo products is lower than that of the wood products, and not easy to absorb water as wood products, so the trays made by bamboo products can guarantee the quality. In addition, bamboo products can easily meet the requirement of moisture content less than 1% after drying; (4) Separating by wind separation: The dried bamboo shavings are subjected to secondary purification by cyclone separation and pulse dust removal, to remove bamboo scraps and impurities, and obtain bamboo shaving materials with a mass purity greater than 99% after separation. The bamboo material itself has fewer impurities; after the secondary purification and impurity removal, it is basically free of impurities, to achieve a high purity, which is very good for the subsequent tray production; (5) Heat balance treatment: place bamboo shaving materials with a mass purity of 99% in a confined space in batches, with a thickness of each batch of 5 cm, and a volume of each batch of 0.5 cubic meter. Bamboo shavings are placed as loosely as possible, the density of bamboo shavings of each batch is 0.06 g/cm.sup.3, and the spacing between each batch of bamboo shavings is 20 cm, to facilitate the exchange of heat and moisture between each batch of bamboo shavings. Multiple batches of bamboo shavings that are left at room temperature are subjected to heat balance treatment through the internal circulation of air in a confined space. The time for each heat-balance treatment is 5 minutes, and the quantity for each heat-balance treatment is 50 batches of bamboo shavings. The heat balance treatment is a very important step in the processing method of the present invention because different batches of bamboo shaving materials cannot be guaranteed to have the same moisture content and basal temperature after separated and dried. If different materials are not put together for heat balance treatment, the raw materials will be different in their quality, and it is unable to guarantee the consistency of the quality of finished products. Through the heat balance steps, the moisture content and basal temperature of more wood materials will be close for the same batch. For example, for a batch of mixed shavings, after the above steps, the basal temperature of the semi-finished products is 25 C., the moisture content is 2%, while the basal temperature of the another batch of semi-finished products is 20 C. and the moisture content is 1%. After the heat balance treatment, the temperature of the two batches of semi-finished products can be reduced to the temperature of the heat balance processing space (room temperature 15-20 C.), and the moisture content is balanced due to the air circulation. Usually, after standing for a period of time, the moisture content of the two batches of semi-finished products can reach an average value of 1.5%. If the moisture content still cannot meet the requirements, dehumidification can be performed in a standing space if necessary. Usually it is carried out by putting some materials with adsorption properties or using dehumidifiers; (6) Mixing glue: Feed bamboo shavings and glues to a mixer at a volume ratio of 1:0.18, and stir 3 minutes at a stirring speed of 100 rpm. The stirring quantity for 3 minutes each time is 60 kg, and materials after stirring are put into a bucket for standby; (7) Paving and hot pressing: According to the size and specification of the tray, after metering and weighing, put materials in a mold for paving. The paving should at least fill the mold, and the upper surface of the mold is leveled, surplus materials are recycled, after paving, perform hot pressing, with an upper mold temperature of 150 C., lower mold temperature of 130 C. Firstly perform initial hot pressing for 150 seconds at a pressure of 10 MPa, after the initial pressing, maintain hot pressing for 70 seconds at a pressure of 5 MPa, at the end of pressure holding, the pressure is relieved. The pressure relief refers to the process of reducing the pressure from the holding pressure to zero and the time of pressure relief is 90 seconds. Carry out cooling while relieving the pressure, and when the pressure relieving is finished, the temperature is dropped to less than 100 C.; (8) Cooling and grinding: take out workpieces from the mold after pressure relief, and place to a rack for cooling. The rack is placed in a room temperature ventilation room, to avoid water. The indoor air humidity is 35%, and if the air humidity is too high, dehumidify and then place the workpieces. The rack is a high-temperature resistant multi-layer bracket. The spacing between each layer of brackets is 48 cm and the spacing between adjacent racks is 30 cm. The cooling time is 1 day, after cooling, the workpieces are delivered to an automatic edge grinding machine for grinding, and the edge grinding is required to remove or flatten the spiked portion of the workpiece edge; (9) Inspecting and warehousing: Inspect the workpieces after grinding, including hardness, moisture content, edge roughness, and shape. Unqualified products are removed according to the finished product requirements. Qualified products are stacked in batches according to the required quantity.

Example 2

(3) A method for processing a molded tray based on bamboo shavings, comprising the following steps: (1) Extracting: collect scrap bamboo processing materials, remove bamboo peels and other impurities, and remove rotted or quasi-rotted bamboo materials with a moisture content of greater than 20%. The quasi-rotted materials refer to the materials with a rot surface area of more than 40% but no rot inside the surface. Although this part of materials has low rot degree, due to rotted material on the surface and high surface water content, it is easy to cause impact on other materials, to accelerate the overall rot speed. Therefore, they must be eliminated absolutely; (2) Crushing: deliver the extracted raw materials to a crusher to crush into bamboo material segments with a length of no more than 5 cm, and then shave with a shaving machine to form bamboo shavings having length of 26 mm, width of 3 mm, and thickness of 1.2 mm. Firstly cut before crushing the materials, to easily form bamboo shavings of desired size. The key for molding of bamboo shavings is to cut as thin as possible, by this way, the time to achieve an ideal effect can be shortened in the subsequent steps of drying and heat balance treatment; (3) Drying: Loosely put the bamboo shavings into a tray that is resistant to high temperature and poor in thermal conductivity, then dry in a drying oven. Place the trays by layers in a drying oven, with a distance between two adjacent trays of 35 cm. The stacking thickness of bamboo shavings in each tray is 2 cm, the drying temperature is maintained at 165 C., the drying time is 23 min, and the moisture content of shavings after drying is 1% in mass percent. The moisture content of the bamboo products is lower than that of the wood products, and not easy to absorb water as wood products, so the trays made by bamboo products can guarantee the quality. In addition, bamboo products can easily meet the requirement of moisture content less than 1% after drying; (4) Separating by wind separation: The dried bamboo shavings are subjected to secondary purification by cyclone separation and pulse dust removal, to remove bamboo scraps and impurities, and obtain bamboo shaving materials with a mass purity of 99.3% after separation. The bamboo material itself has fewer impurities; after the secondary purification and impurity removal, it is basically free of impurities, to achieve a high purity, which is very good for the subsequent tray production; (5) Heat balance treatment: place bamboo shaving materials with a mass purity greater than 99.3% in a confined space in batches, with a thickness of each batch of 4.5 cm, and a volume of each batch of 0.4 cubic meters. Bamboo shavings are placed as loosely as possible, the density of bamboo shavings of each batch is 0.05 g/cm.sup.3, and the spacing between each batch of bamboo shavings is 18 cm, to facilitate the exchange of heat and moisture between each batch of bamboo shavings. Multiple batches of bamboo shavings that are left at room temperature are subjected to heat balance treatment through the internal circulation of air in a confined space. The time for each heat-balance treatment is 6 minutes, and the quantity for each heat-balance treatment is 60 batches of bamboo shavings. The heat balance treatment is a very important step in the processing method of the present invention because different batches of bamboo shaving materials cannot be guaranteed to have the same moisture content and basal temperature after separated and dried. If different materials are not put together for heat balance treatment, the raw materials will be different in their quality, and it is unable to guarantee the consistency of the quality of finished products. Through the heat balance steps, the moisture content and basal temperature of more wood materials will be close for the same batch. For example, for a batch of mixed shavings, after the above steps, the basal temperature of the semi-finished products is 25 C., the moisture content is 2%, while the basal temperature of the another batch of semi-finished products is 20 C. and the moisture content is 1%. After the heat balance treatment, the temperature of the two batches of semi-finished products can be reduced to the temperature of the heat balance processing space (room temperature 15-20 C.), and the moisture content is balanced due to the air circulation. Usually, after standing for a period of time, the moisture content of the two batches of semi-finished products can reach an average value of 1.5%. If the moisture content still cannot meet the requirements, dehumidification can be performed in a standing space if necessary. Usually it is carried out by putting some materials with adsorption properties or using dehumidifiers; (6) Mixing glue: Feed bamboo shavings and glues to a mixer at a volume ratio of 1:0.2, and stir 3 minutes at a stirring speed of 150 rpm. The stirring quantity for 3 minutes each time is 65 kg, and materials after stirring are put into a bucket for standby; (7) Paving and hot pressing: According to the size and specification of the tray, after metering and weighing, put materials in a mold for paving. The paving should at least fill the mold, and the upper surface of the mold is leveled, surplus materials are recycled, after paving, perform hot pressing, with an upper mold temperature of 150 C., lower mold temperature of 130 C. Firstly perform initial hot pressing for 150 seconds at a pressure of 10 MPa, after the initial pressing, maintain hot pressing for 70 seconds at a pressure of 5 MPa, at the end of pressure holding, the pressure is relieved. The pressure relief refers to the process of reducing the pressure from the holding pressure to zero and the time of pressure relief is 90 seconds. Carry out cooling while relieving the pressure, and when the pressure relieving is finished, the temperature is dropped to less than 100 C.; (8) Cooling and grinding: take out workpieces from the mold after pressure relief, and place to a rack for cooling. The rack is placed in a room temperature ventilation room, to avoid water. The indoor air humidity is 32%, and if the air humidity is too high, dehumidify and then place the workpieces. The rack is a high-temperature resistant multi-layer bracket. The spacing between each layer of brackets is 50 cm and the spacing between adjacent racks is 32 cm. The cooling time is 1 day, after cooling, the workpieces are delivered to an automatic edge grinding machine for grinding, and the edge grinding is required to remove or flatten the spiked portion of the workpiece edge; (9) Inspecting and warehousing: Inspect the workpieces after grinding, including hardness, moisture content, edge roughness, and shape. Unqualified products are removed according to the finished product requirements. Qualified products are stacked in batches according to the required quantity.

Example 3

(4) A method for processing a molded tray based on bamboo shavings, comprising the following steps: (1) Extracting: collect scrap bamboo processing materials, remove bamboo peels and other impurities, and remove rotted or quasi-rotted bamboo materials with a moisture content of greater than 20%. The quasi-rotted materials refer to the materials with a rot surface area of more than 40% but no rot inside the surface. Although this part of materials has low rot degree, due to rotted material on the surface and high surface water content, it is easy to cause impact on other materials, to accelerate the overall rot speed. Therefore, they must be eliminated absolutely; (2) Crushing: deliver the extracted raw materials to a crusher to crush into bamboo material segments with a length of no more than 5 cm, and then shave with a shaving machine to form bamboo shavings having length of 23 mm, width <2.5 mm, and thickness of 1 mm. Firstly cut before crushing the materials, to easily form bamboo shavings of desired size. The key for molding of bamboo shavings is to cut as thin as possible, by this way, the time to achieve an ideal effect can be shortened in the subsequent steps of drying and heat balance treatment; (3) Drying: Loosely put the bamboo shavings into a tray that is resistant to high temperature and poor in thermal conductivity, then dry in a drying oven. Place the trays by layers in a drying oven, with a distance between two adjacent trays of 42 cm. The stacking thickness of bamboo shavings in each tray is 3.5 cm, the drying temperature is maintained at 170 C., the drying time is 20 min, and the moisture content of shavings after drying is 0.8% in mass percent. The moisture content of the bamboo products is lower than that of the wood products, and not easy to absorb water as wood products, so the trays made by bamboo products can guarantee the quality. In addition, bamboo products can easily meet the requirement of moisture content less than 1% after drying; (4) Separating by wind separation: The dried bamboo shavings are subjected to secondary purification by cyclone separation and pulse dust removal, to remove bamboo scraps and impurities, and obtain bamboo shaving materials with a mass purity of 99.5% after separation. The bamboo material itself has fewer impurities; after the secondary purification and impurity removal, it is basically free of impurities, to achieve a high purity, which is very good for the subsequent tray production; (5) Heat balance treatment: place bamboo shaving materials with a mass purity of 99.5% in a confined space in batches, with a thickness of each batch of 4.5 cm, and a volume of each batch of 0.45 cubic meters. Bamboo shavings are placed as loosely as possible, the density of bamboo shavings of each batch is 0.055 g/cm.sup.3, and the spacing between each batch of bamboo shavings is 15 cm, to facilitate the exchange of heat and moisture between each batch of bamboo shavings. Multiple batches of bamboo shavings that are left at room temperature are subjected to heat balance treatment through the internal circulation of air in a confined space. The time for each heat-balance treatment is 8 minutes, and the quantity for each heat-balance treatment is 65 batches of bamboo shavings. The heat balance treatment is a very important step in the processing method of the present invention because different batches of bamboo shaving materials cannot be guaranteed to have the same moisture content and basal temperature after separated and dried. If different materials are not put together for heat balance treatment, the raw materials will be different in their quality, and it is unable to guarantee the consistency of the quality of finished products. Through the heat balance steps, the moisture content and basal temperature of more wood materials will be close for the same batch. For example, for a batch of mixed shavings, after the above steps, the basal temperature of the semi-finished products is 25 C., the moisture content is 2%, while the basal temperature of the another batch of semi-finished products is 20 C. and the moisture content is 1%. After the heat balance treatment, the temperature of the two batches of semi-finished products can be reduced to the temperature of the heat balance processing space (room temperature 15-20 C.), and the moisture content is balanced due to the air circulation. Usually, after standing for a period of time, the moisture content of the two batches of semi-finished products can reach an average value of 1.5%. If the moisture content still cannot meet the requirements, dehumidification can be performed in a standing space if necessary. Usually it is carried out by putting some materials with adsorption properties or using dehumidifiers; (6) Mixing glue: Feed bamboo shavings and glues to a mixer at a volume ratio of 1:0.22, and stir 3 minutes at a stirring speed of 200 rpm. The stirring quantity for 3 minutes each time is 55 kg, and materials after stirring are put into a bucket for standby; (7) Paving and hot pressing: According to the size and specification of the tray, after metering and weighing, put materials in a mold for paving. The paving should at least fill the mold, and the upper surface of the mold is leveled, surplus materials are recycled, after paving, perform hot pressing, with an upper mold temperature of 150 C., lower mold temperature of 130 C. Firstly perform initial hot pressing for 150 seconds at a pressure of 10 MPa, after the initial pressing, maintain hot pressing for 70 seconds at a pressure of 5 MPa, at the end of pressure holding, the pressure is relieved. The pressure relief refers to the process of reducing the pressure from the holding pressure to zero and the time of pressure relief is 90 seconds. Carry out cooling while relieving the pressure, and when the pressure relieving is finished, the temperature is dropped to less than 100 C.; (8) Cooling and grinding: take out workpieces from the mold after pressure relief, and place to a rack for cooling. The rack is placed in a room temperature ventilation room, to avoid water. The indoor air humidity is not more than 35%, and if the air humidity is too high, dehumidify and then place the workpieces. The rack is a high-temperature resistant multi-layer bracket. The spacing between each layer of brackets is 49 cm and the spacing between adjacent racks is 35 cm. The cooling time is 2 days, after cooling, the workpieces are delivered to an automatic edge grinding machine for grinding, and the edge grinding is required to remove or flatten the spiked portion of the workpiece edge; (9) Inspecting and warehousing: Inspect the workpieces after grinding, including hardness, moisture content, edge roughness, and shape. Unqualified products are removed according to the finished product requirements. Qualified products are stacked in batches according to the required quantity.

Comparative Example 1

(5) A method for processing a molded tray based on bamboo shavings, comprising the following steps: (1) Extracting: collect scrap bamboo processing materials, remove bamboo peels and other impurities, and remove rotted or quasi-rotted bamboo materials with a moisture content of greater than 20%. The quasi-rotted materials refer to the materials with a rot surface area of more than 40% but no rot inside the surface. Although this part of materials has low rot degree, due to rotted material on the surface and high surface water content, it is easy to cause impact on other materials, to accelerate the overall rot speed. Therefore, they must be eliminated absolutely; (2) Crushing: deliver the extracted raw materials to a crusher to crush into bamboo material segments with a length of no more than 5 cm, and then shave with a shaving machine to form bamboo shavings having length of 26 mm, width of 3 mm, and thickness of 1.2 mm. Firstly cut before crushing the materials, to easily form bamboo shavings of desired size. The key for molding of bamboo shavings is to cut as thin as possible, by this way, the time to achieve an ideal effect can be shortened in the subsequent steps of drying and heat balance treatment; (3) Drying: Loosely put the bamboo shavings into a tray that is resistant to high temperature and poor in thermal conductivity, then dry in a drying oven. Place the trays by layers in a drying oven, with a distance between two adjacent trays of 35 cm. The stacking thickness of bamboo shavings in each tray is 2 cm, the drying temperature is maintained at 165 C., the drying time is 23 min, and the moisture content of shavings after drying is 1% in mass percent. The moisture content of the bamboo products is lower than that of the wood products, and not easy to absorb water as wood products, so the trays made by bamboo products can guarantee the quality. In addition, bamboo products can easily meet the requirement of moisture content less than 1% after drying; (4) Separating by wind separation: The dried bamboo shavings are subjected to secondary purification by cyclone separation and pulse dust removal, to remove bamboo scraps and impurities, and obtain bamboo shaving materials with a mass purity of 99.3% after separation. The bamboo material itself has fewer impurities; after the secondary purification and impurity removal, it is basically free of impurities, to achieve a high purity, which is very good for the subsequent tray production; (5) Mixing glue: Feed bamboo shavings and glues to a mixer at a volume ratio of 1:0.2, and stir 3 minutes at a stirring speed of 150 rpm. The stirring quantity for 3 minutes each time is 65 kg, and materials after stirring are put into a bucket for standby; (6) Paving and hot pressing: According to the size and specification of the tray, after metering and weighing, put materials in a mold for paving. The paving should at least fill the mold, and the upper surface of the mold is leveled, surplus materials are recycled, after paving, perform hot pressing, with an upper mold temperature of 150 C., lower mold temperature of 130 C. Firstly perform initial hot pressing for 150 seconds at a pressure of 10 MPa, after the initial pressing, maintain hot pressing for 70 seconds at a pressure of 5 MPa, at the end of pressure holding, the pressure is relieved. The pressure relief refers to the process of reducing the pressure from the holding pressure to zero and the time of pressure relief is 90 seconds. Carry out cooling while relieving the pressure, and when the pressure relieving is finished, the temperature is dropped to less than 100 C.; (7) Cooling and grinding: take out workpieces from the mold after pressure relief, and place to a rack for cooling. The rack is placed in a room temperature ventilation room, to avoid water. The indoor air humidity is 32%, and if the air humidity is too high, dehumidify and then place the workpieces. The rack is a high-temperature resistant multi-layer bracket. The spacing between each layer of brackets is 50 cm and the spacing between adjacent racks is 32 cm. The cooling time is 1 day, after cooling, the workpieces are delivered to an automatic edge grinding machine for grinding, and the edge grinding is required to remove or flatten the spiked portion of the workpiece edge; (8) Inspecting and warehousing: Inspect the workpieces after grinding, including hardness, moisture content, edge roughness, and shape. Unqualified products are removed according to the finished product requirements. Qualified products are stacked in batches according to the required quantity.

Comparative Example 2

(6) A method for processing a molded tray based on bamboo shavings, comprising the following steps: (1) Extracting: collect scrap bamboo processing materials, remove bamboo peels and other impurities, and remove rotted or quasi-rotted bamboo materials with a moisture content of greater than 20%. The quasi-rotted materials refer to the materials with a rot surface area of more than 40% but no rot inside the surface. Although this part of materials has low rot degree, due to rotted material on the surface and high surface water content, it is easy to cause impact on other materials, to accelerate the overall rot speed. Therefore, they must be eliminated absolutely; (2) Crushing: deliver the extracted raw materials to a crusher to crush into bamboo material segments with a length of no more than 5 cm, and then shave with a shaving machine to form bamboo shavings having length of 26 mm, width of 3 mm, and thickness of 1.2 mm. Firstly cut before crushing the materials, to easily form bamboo shavings of desired size. The key for molding of bamboo shavings is to cut as thin as possible, by this way, the time to achieve an ideal effect can be shortened in the subsequent steps of drying and heat balance treatment; (3) Drying: Loosely put the bamboo shavings into a tray that is resistant to high temperature and poor in thermal conductivity, then dry in a drying oven. Place the trays by layers in a drying oven, with a distance between two adjacent trays of 35 cm. The stacking thickness of bamboo shavings in each tray is 2 cm, the drying temperature is maintained at 165 C., the drying time is 23 min, and the moisture content of shavings after drying is 1% in mass percent. The moisture content of the bamboo products is lower than that of the wood products, and not easy to absorb water as wood products, so the trays made by bamboo products can guarantee the quality. In addition, bamboo products can easily meet the requirement of moisture content less than 1% after drying; (4) Separating by wind separation: The dried bamboo shavings are subjected to secondary purification by cyclone separation and pulse dust removal, to remove bamboo scraps and impurities, and obtain bamboo shaving materials with a mass purity of 99.3% after separation. The bamboo material itself has fewer impurities; after the secondary purification and impurity removal, it is basically free of impurities, to achieve a high purity, which is very good for the subsequent tray production; (5) Heat balance treatment: place bamboo shaving materials with a mass purity greater than 99.3% in a confined space in batches, with a thickness of each batch of 4.5 cm, and a volume of each batch of 0.4 cubic meters. Bamboo shavings are placed as loosely as possible, the density of bamboo shavings of each batch is 0.05 g/cm.sup.3, and the spacing between each batch of bamboo shavings is 18 cm, to facilitate the exchange of heat and moisture between each batch of bamboo shavings. Multiple batches of bamboo shavings that are left at room temperature are subjected to heat balance treatment through the internal circulation of air in a confined space. The time for each heat-balance treatment is 3 minutes, and the quantity for each heat-balance treatment is 60 batches of bamboo shavings; (6) Mixing glue: Feed bamboo shavings and glues to a mixer at a volume ratio of 1:0.2, and stir 3 minutes at a stirring speed of 150 rpm. The stirring quantity for 3 minutes each time is 65 kg, and materials after stirring are put into a bucket for standby; (7) Paving and hot pressing: According to the size and specification of the tray, after metering and weighing, put materials in a mold for paving. The paving should at least fill the mold, and the upper surface of the mold is leveled, surplus materials are recycled, after paving, perform hot pressing, with an upper mold temperature of 150 C., lower mold temperature of 130 C. Firstly perform initial hot pressing for 150 seconds at a pressure of 10 MPa, after the initial pressing, maintain hot pressing for 70 seconds at a pressure of 5 MPa, at the end of pressure holding, the pressure is relieved. The pressure relief refers to the process of reducing the pressure from the holding pressure to zero and the time of pressure relief is 90 seconds. Carry out cooling while relieving the pressure, and when the pressure relieving is finished, the temperature is dropped to less than 100 C.; (8) Cooling and grinding: take out workpieces from the mold after pressure relief, and place to a rack for cooling. The rack is placed in a room temperature ventilation room, to avoid water. The indoor air humidity is 32%, and if the air humidity is too high, dehumidify and then place the workpieces. The rack is a high-temperature resistant multi-layer bracket. The spacing between each layer of brackets is 50 cm and the spacing between adjacent racks is 32 cm. The cooling time is 1 day, after cooling, the workpieces are delivered to an automatic edge grinding machine for grinding, and the edge grinding is required to remove or flatten the spiked portion of the workpiece edge; (9) Inspecting and warehousing: Inspect the workpieces after grinding, including hardness, moisture content, edge roughness, and shape. Unqualified products are removed according to the finished product requirements. Qualified products are stacked in batches according to the required quantity.

Comparative Example 3

(7) A method for processing a molded tray based on bamboo shavings, comprising the following steps: (1) Extracting: collect scrap bamboo processing materials, remove bamboo peels and other impurities, and remove rotted or quasi-rotted bamboo materials with a moisture content of greater than 20%. The quasi-rotted materials refer to the materials with a rot surface area of more than 40% but no rot inside the surface. Although this part of materials has low rot degree, due to rotted material on the surface and high surface water content, it is easy to cause impact on other materials, to accelerate the overall rot speed. Therefore, they must be eliminated absolutely; (2) Crushing: deliver the extracted raw materials to a crusher to crush into bamboo material segments with a length of no more than 5 cm, and then shave with a shaving machine to form bamboo shavings having length of 26 mm, width of 3 mm, and thickness of 1.2 mm. Firstly cut before crushing the materials, to easily form bamboo shavings of desired size. The key for molding of bamboo shavings is to cut as thin as possible, by this way, the time to achieve an ideal effect can be shortened in the subsequent steps of drying and heat balance treatment; (3) Drying: Loosely put the bamboo shavings into a tray that is resistant to high temperature and poor in thermal conductivity, then dry in a drying oven. Place the trays by layers in a drying oven, with a distance between two adjacent trays of 35 cm. The stacking thickness of bamboo shavings in each tray is 2 cm, the drying temperature is maintained at 165 C., the drying time is 23 min, and the moisture content of shavings after drying is 1% in mass percent. The moisture content of the bamboo products is lower than that of the wood products, and not easy to absorb water as wood products, so the trays made by bamboo products can guarantee the quality. In addition, bamboo products can easily meet the requirement of moisture content less than 1% after drying; (4) Separating by wind separation: The dried bamboo shavings are subjected to secondary purification by cyclone separation and pulse dust removal, to remove bamboo scraps and impurities, and obtain bamboo shaving materials with a mass purity of 99.3% after separation. The bamboo material itself has fewer impurities; after the secondary purification and impurity removal, it is basically free of impurities, to achieve a high purity, which is very good for the subsequent tray production; (5) Heat balance treatment: place bamboo shaving materials with a mass purity greater than 99.3% in a confined space in batches, with a thickness of each batch of 4.5 cm, and a volume of each batch of 0.4 cubic meters. Bamboo shavings are placed as loosely as possible, the density of bamboo shavings of each batch is 0.05 g/cm.sup.3, and the spacing between each batch of bamboo shavings is 18 cm, to facilitate the exchange of heat and moisture between each batch of bamboo shavings. Multiple batches of bamboo shavings that are left at room temperature are subjected to heat balance treatment through the internal circulation of air in a confined space. The time for each heat-balance treatment is 10 minutes, and the quantity for each heat-balance treatment is 60 batches of bamboo shavings; (6) Mixing glue: Feed bamboo shavings and glues to a mixer at a volume ratio of 1:0.2, and stir 3 minutes at a stirring speed of 150 rpm. The stirring quantity for 3 minutes each time is 65 kg, and materials after stirring are put into a bucket for standby; (7) Paving and hot pressing: According to the size and specification of the tray, after metering and weighing, put materials in a mold for paving. The paving should at least fill the mold, and the upper surface of the mold is leveled, surplus materials are recycled, after paving, perform hot pressing, with an upper mold temperature of 150 C., lower mold temperature of 130 C. Firstly perform initial hot pressing for 150 seconds at a pressure of 10 MPa, after the initial pressing, maintain hot pressing for 70 seconds at a pressure of 5 MPa, at the end of pressure holding, the pressure is relieved. The pressure relief refers to the process of reducing the pressure from the holding pressure to zero and the time of pressure relief is 90 seconds. Carry out cooling while relieving the pressure, and when the pressure relieving is finished, the temperature is dropped to less than 100 C.; (8) Cooling and grinding: take out workpieces from the mold after pressure relief, and place to a rack for cooling. The rack is placed in a room temperature ventilation room, to avoid water. The indoor air humidity is 32%, and if the air humidity is too high, dehumidify and then place the workpieces. The rack is a high-temperature resistant multi-layer bracket. The spacing between each layer of brackets is 50 cm and the spacing between adjacent racks is 32 cm. The cooling time is 1 day, after cooling, the workpieces are delivered to an automatic edge grinding machine for grinding, and the edge grinding is required to remove or flatten the spiked portion of the workpiece edge; (9) Inspecting and warehousing: Inspect the workpieces after grinding, including hardness, moisture content, edge roughness, and shape. Unqualified products are removed according to the finished product requirements. Qualified products are stacked in batches according to the required quantity.

Comparative Example 4

(8) A method for processing a molded tray based on bamboo-wood mixed shavings, comprising the following steps: (1) Extracting: collect scrap bamboo processing materials, remove bamboo peels and other impurities, and remove rotted or quasi-rotted bamboo materials with a moisture content of greater than 20%; collect scrap wood processing materials, remove impurities other than woods, and remove rotted or quasi-rotted wood materials with a with a moisture content of greater than 20%; (2) Crushing: deliver the extracted bamboo materials to a crusher to crush into bamboo material segments with a length of 5 cm, and then shave with a shaving machine to form bamboo shavings having length of 29 mm, width of 3.5 mm and thickness of 1.4 mm; cut the extracted wood materials into segments, with a length of 10 cm, a width and a thickness of 5 cm, cut the segments into wood shavings having length of 29 mm, width of 3.5 mm and thickness of 1.4 mm; (3) Mixing: Perform physical mixing of the crushed bamboo shavings and wood shavings at a mass ratio of 1:1, and the mixing process is to put the mixed materials into a container, blow air to the container, and at the same time, stir the materials at a speed of 30 rpm using a stirring rod without sharp portion, continue the blowing and stirring for 8 minutes, so that bamboo shavings and wood shavings are evenly stirred; (4) Drying: Loosely put the mixed shaving materials into a tray that is resistant to high temperature and poor in thermal conductivity, then dry in a drying oven. Place the trays by layers in a drying oven, with a distance between two adjacent trays of 38 cm. The stacking thickness of mixed shavings in each tray is 2.5 cm, the drying temperature is maintained at 160 C., the drying time is 25 min, and the moisture content of mixed shavings after drying is 1% in mass percent; (5) Separating by wind separation: The dried mixed shavings are subjected to secondary purification by cyclone separation and pulse dust removal, to remove the metal materials, gravels, coarse wood materials, and impurities and powders in the bamboo products, to get mixed shaving materials with a mass purity of 97%; (6) Heat balance treatment: place mixed shaving materials with a mass purity of 97% in a confined space in batches, with a thickness of each batch of 5 cm, and a volume of each batch of 0.5 cubic meters. Mixed shavings are placed as loosely as possible, the density of mixed shavings of each batch is 0.055 g/cm.sup.3, and the spacing between each batch of mixed shavings is 20 cm, to facilitate the exchange of heat and moisture between each batch of mixed shavings. Multiple batches of mixed shavings that are left at room temperature are subjected to heat balance treatment through the internal circulation of air in a confined space. The time for each heat-balance treatment is 5 minutes, and the quantity for each heat-balance treatment is 50 batches of mixed shavings; (7) Mixing glue: Feed mixed shavings and glues to a mixer at a volume ratio of 1:0.2, and stir 3 minutes at a stirring speed of 100 rpm. The stirring quantity for 3 minutes each time is 80 kg, and materials after stirring are put into a bucket for standby; (8) Paving and hot pressing: According to the size and specification of the tray, after metering and weighing, put materials in a mold for paving. The paving should at least fill the mold, and the upper surface of the mold is leveled, surplus materials are recycled, after paving, perform hot pressing, with an upper mold temperature of 150 C., lower mold temperature of 130 C. Firstly perform initial hot pressing for 150 seconds at a pressure of 10 MPa, after the initial pressing, maintain hot pressing for 70 seconds at a pressure of 5 MPa, at the end of pressure holding, the pressure is relieved. The pressure relief refers to the process of reducing the pressure from the holding pressure to zero and the time of pressure relief is 90 seconds. Carry out cooling while relieving the pressure, and when the pressure relieving is finished, the temperature is dropped to less than 100 C.; (9) Cooling and grinding: take out workpieces from the mold after pressure relief, and place to a rack for cooling. The rack is placed in a room temperature ventilation room, to avoid water. The indoor air humidity is not more than 35%, and if the air humidity is too high, dehumidify and then place the workpieces. The rack is a high-temperature resistant multi-layer bracket. The spacing between each layer of brackets is 48 cm and the spacing between adjacent racks is 30 cm. The cooling time is 1 day, after cooling, the workpieces are delivered to an automatic edge grinding machine for grinding, and the edge grinding is required to remove or flatten the spiked portion of the workpiece edge; (10) Inspecting and warehousing: Inspect the workpieces after grinding, including hardness, moisture content, edge roughness, and shape. Unqualified products are removed according to the finished product requirements. Qualified products are stacked in batches according to the required quantity.

(9) A performance test is performed for molded trays manufactured in foregoing examples and comparative examples. Results are shown in the table below.

(10) TABLE-US-00001 Maximum dynamic Moisture Product loading Size stability content % density kg/m.sup.3 capacity KG Example 1 Stable shape, 4.5 1900 3060 no edge warp Example 2 Stable shape, 4.8 1850 3080 no edge warp Example 3 Stable shape, 3.5 2100 3310 no edge warp Comparative Slight edge 8.5 1420 2210 Example 1 warp Comparative Stable shape, 8 1500 2300 Example 2 no edge warp Comparative Slight edge 7.5 1480 2400 Example 3 warp Comparative Stable shape, 6 1800 3200 Example 4 no edge warp

(11) The heat balance treatment is performed for 5-8 minutes in the production process in Examples 1-3. As described above, for the products after heat balance treatment, its temperature and moisture content of base material is basically the same, so high-quality products with large density, low moisture content and high maximum dynamic loading capacity can be manufactured. But in comparative example 1, since no heat balance treatment is performed, it is found that the proportion of products with slight edge warp is increased significantly in each batch of products, the overall moisture content of products is increased apparently, and the product density and maximum dynamic loading capacity are reduced apparently. The above results show that a heat balance treatment has a great influence on the product performance.

(12) However, the time of heat balance treatment should not be too long, and the heat balance has a better time interval. In this embodiment, the most suitable time is about 8 minutes. The data in Example 3 show that, after 8-min heat balance treatment, the temperature and moisture balance of the product reach the best state (average degree); in addition, they are not affected by the external environment substantially within 8 minutes. Therefore, Example 3 gives a best embodiment. According to the data in Example 2, it is obviously showed that, in this preferred embodiment, the products have low moisture content, high density and their maximum dynamic loading capacity is obviously higher than that in other embodiments.

(13) In contrast, 3-min and 10-min heat balance treatments are performed in comparative examples 2 and 3 respectively. If the time of heat balance treatment is not enough, it is obviously unable to achieve consistent performance of materials. The time of 3 minutes is too short, and it is unable to achieve complete exchange of moisture and temperature between products, and apparently it is unable to achieve good consistency. However, if the time is too long, after complete heat exchange or moisture balance, the products will be affected by external environment again. For example, the outer layer may absorb external moisture or have heat exchange with the external environment, to produce difference from the internal moisture and heat, resulting in inconsistent performance. Results from comparative examples 2 and 3 show that, if the heat balance time is too long or too short, the product performance is not as good as that under an appropriate heat balance time.

(14) According to the results in the above table, the dimensional stability of molded trays after heat balance treatment is obviously better than that without heat balance treatment. The molded trays that are not subjected to heat balance treatment (for example, comparative example 1) may generate edge warps. In contrast, the heat balance treatment in example 3 achieves the best effect. In example 3, the time of heat balance treatment is most appropriate; therefore, the treated trays have low water content. In addition, according to the data in comparative examples 2 and 3, the heat balance treatment time cannot be too long or too short, otherwise it will affect the heat treatment effect. When the heat treatment time is not enough or is too long, the product quality will be affected.

(15) In addition, the selected raw materials will also have an impact on product performance. The comparative example 4 provides an example of bamboo-wood mixed material. The parameters used in the processing in comparative example 4 are basically the same as those in example 1. By comparing with the comparative example 4, the products may present superiority in different performances when the raw material is bamboo-wood mixed material. For example, the pure bamboo shaving products may present superiority in density and moisture content, while the products of bamboo-wood mixed material may present superiority in maximum dynamic loading capacity.