WHAT IS BRICK?


A brick is a building  material used to make walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction.

Advantages of bricks•Better thermal insulation

 •Economical •Masonry is easier, faster and stronger

•Bricks have greater fire resistance It’s size enables easy handling and placement in walls

Disadvantages of bricks•Time consuming in construction •Cannot be used in high seismic zones•Very less tensile strength   •Since brick absorbs water easily, therefore it causes efflorance when not exposed to air

Uses of bricks •Construction of walls  •Floor construction •Construction of arches  •Construction of brick retaining walls •Stair cases •Foundations

Types of bricks 1. Ordinary bricks.2. Curved bricks3Channel bricks.4. Coping bricks5. Bulll nose brick6. Hollow bricks

PHASES OF MANUFACTURING           1  CLAY WINNING2 CLAY PREPARATION3 MOULDING4 DRYING 5 FIRING6 SORTING

Required properties of Bricks

1. Colour:Colour should be uniform and bright.

2. Shape: Bricks should have plane faces. They should have sharp and true right angled corners

.3. Texture:They should possess fine, dense and uniform texture. They should not possess cavities, loose grit and un burnt lime.

 4.  Size: Bricks should be of standard sizes as prescribed by codes.

5. Soundness: When struck with hammer or with another brick, it should produce metallic sound.

Types of TestsonBricksField tests

 • Uniformity in size • Uniformity in colour • Hardness test • Soundness test • Structural test Laboratory tests  • Water Absorption test • Dimensional Tolerance test • Efflorescence test • Compressive strength test

Laboratory tests     • Water Absorption test • Dimensional Tolerance test • Efflorescence test • Compressive strength test

01 Compressive strength test

Compression testing machine 3mm plywood sheetsMixingtoolsTapes

• Randomly select five bricks from the sample 

• Immerse the bricks in water bath for 24 hours maintaining the temperature of 25˚C

• Take out the bricks after 24 hrs and drain out any surplus moisture at room temperature

• Prepare 1:3 cement, sand motor to fill all the frog and gaps • Store it under gunny bag for 24 hrs.

• Immerse the bricks again in clean water for 3 days

• Remove and wipe out any traces of moisture

• Measure the dimension up to 1mm accuracy

• Place one plywood sheet on the base and keep one brick on it as the motor tilled face come upward

• Place the other plywood sheet on the brick and center these between the plates of testing machine

• Apply load axially at a uniform rate of 14 N/mm2 per minute till failure occurs and note maximum load at failure

 • Continue for all specimen

• Calculate the compressive strength Compressive

(ii) Absorption Test procedures                   Brick specimen are weighed dry. Then they are immersed in water for a period of 24 hours. The specimen are taken out and wiped with cloth. And dried in a ventilated oven at a temperature of 105˚C to 115˚C till it attains substantially constant mass The weight of each specimen in wet condition is determined. The difference in weight indicate the water absorbed.  • Then the percentage absorption is the ratio of water absorbed to dry weight multiplied by 100.     • The average of five specimen is taken. This value should not exceed 20 per cent

vi) Efflorescence test

The presence of alkalis in brick is not desirable because they form patches of gray powder by absorbing moisture.  Hence to determine the presence of alkalis this test is performed as explained below. The test should be conducted in a well ventilated room at 18-30˚C brick specimen in a glass dish containing water to a depth of 25 mm in a well ventilated room. After all the water is absorbed or evaporated again add water for a depth of 25 mm. After second evaporation observe the bricks for white/grey patches.

 

Block stone

Main type of concrete block

1Solid concrete blocks 02 Hollow concrete Blocks

Solid Concrete Blocks - Solid concrete blocks are commonly used, which are heavy in weight and manufactured from dense aggregate. They are  very strong and provide good stability to the structures. So for large work of masonry like for load bearing walls these solid blocks are preferable

Hollow Concrete Blocks - Hollow concrete blocks contain void area greater than 25% of gross area. Solid area of hollow bricks should be more than 50%. The hollow part may be divided into several components based on our requirement.

Types of Hollow Concrete Blocks:1 Stretcher block  2Corner block3  Pillar block 4  Jamb block  5 Partition block6  Lintel block 7  Frogged brick block     8  Bull nose block

Advantages of concrete blocks

1. It increases the carpet area of the building because of small width of concrete block as compared to the brick masonry wall.

2. It provides better thermal insulation, enhanced fire resistance and sound absorption.

3. It results in the saving of precious agricultural land which is used for manufacturing bricks.

4. The blocks can be prepared in such a manner that the vertical joints can be staggered automatically and thus the skilled supervision is reduced.

5. The construction of concrete block masonry is easier, faster and stronger than the brick masonry.