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BUILDING MATERIALS & CONSTRUCTION

BRICKS
BRICKS
Bricks – advantages over Stone:

Bricks have greater fire resistance than stone
or concrete masonry

Its size enables easy handling and placement in
walls

It can be easily adapted to small-scale and large-
scale structures to give pleasing appearance and
texture
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COMPOSITION OF GOOD BRICK EARTH

BRICKS
Alumina (20 to 30%)

Chief constituent of all kinds of clay
Imparts plasticity to clay so that it can be moulded
Constituents


If in excess, it makes the brick warp and crack on drying and burning

Brick clays are produced by blending together various
Silica/sand (50 to 60%)

It imparts uniform shape to bricks
clays (surface clays, shales, and fire clays) to produce the
Its presence prevents cracking, shrinking and warping
desired chemical composition and physical properties.
Its excess destroys cohesion between particles and makes the brick brittle

Lime (up to 5%)

Clays can be divided into

It should be present in very small quantities not exceeding 5%

calcareous clays
It helps in fusing sand(alone infusible) which then acts as cementing material for
brick particles.

containing 15% Calcium Carbonate
It should be very finely powdered else on burning the lumps will convert to
quicklime which expands in presence of moisture resulting in splitting of bricks.

which gives yellow color when burnt
The excess of lime causes the brick to melt and loose its shape

Oxide of iron

Non- calcareous clays
It is added in small quantity – 5-6%

It helps fuse sand

containing silicate of alumina, feldspar, and iron
Imparts red color on burning
oxide
Magnesia
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A small amount of MgO imparts yellow color to the brick 4

Iron oxide gives buff, red or salmon color, when
It decreases shrinkage
burnt
Its excess leads to decay of brick

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MANUFACTURE OF CLAY BRICKS

1. Preparation of brick clay

Unsoiling, Digging , Cleaning, Weathering , Blending ,
Tempering
2. Moulding the bricks

Hand Moulding , Machine Moulding
3. Drying the bricks

Natural , Artificial
4. Burning the bricks

Burning in clamps, Burning in klins

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PREPARATION OF CLAY

Unsoiling :- Top layer of 20cm depth is removed as it
contains impurities.

Digging: - Clay dug out from ground is spread on levelled
ground (just a little deeper than the general level) in about 60cm to
120cm heaps.

Cleaning:-Stones, pebbles, vegetable matter, etc. are
removed and lumps of clay are converted into powder form.

Weathering:- Clay is exposed to atmosphere from few weeks
to full season for softening and mellowing. (Preferably dug
before monsoon)
SITE FOR OBTAINING

Blending:- Clay is made loose and any ingredient to be
CLAY/EARTH
added to it is spread out at top and blended by turning it up
and down in vertical direction.

Tempering:- Clay is brought to a proper degree of hardness,
then water is added to clay and whole mass is kneaded or
7 pressed under the feet of men or cattle. For large scale, 8
tempering is usually done in pug mill as shown in the figure.
DIGGING

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PUG MILL USED FOR TEMPERING OF CLAY TEMPERING/KNEADING OF CLAY WITH THE
HELP OF CATTLE OR MEN

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HAND MOULDING
MOULDING
Moulds are rectangular boxes of wood or steel, which
are open at top and bottom. Steel moulds are more

Clay, which is prepared from pug mill, is durable and used for manufacturing bricks on large
sent for the next operation of moulding. scale as shown in figure.

Following are the two ways of moulding.

Hand Moulding

Machine Moulding.

Bricks prepared by hand moulding are of two types.

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a) Ground moulded bricks 12
b) Table moulded bricks

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DRYING

The damp bricks, if burnt, are likely to be cracked and
distorted. Hence moulded bricks are dried before they
are taken for the next operation of burning. Bricks are
laid along and across the stock in alternate layers. The
drying of brick is by the following means
(i) Artificial drying – drying by tunnels usually 120C
DIFFERENT MOULDS about 1 to 3 days
(ii) Circulation of air- Stacks are arranged in such a
way that sufficient air space is left between them free
circulation of air.
(iii)Drying yard- special yards should be prepared
slightly higher level prevent the accumulation of rain
water
(iv) Period for drying – usually about 3 to 10 days for
bricks to become dry
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(v) Screens – screens are necessary, may be provided to
GROUND MOULDING
avoid direct exposure to wind or sun.

Newly-formed bricks are dried under

shelters in a natural way. BURNING

This is very important operation in the manufacturing of
bricks to impart hardness, strength and make them dense
and durable.

Heating clay upto 640 degree C produces physical changes. If
such clay is cooled back, it absorbs moisture from air and
gets hydrated back to its original state. Such poorly burnt
clay is unstable

However, if clay is heated up to 700-1000 deg C chemical
changes take place by which alumina and silica in clay fuse
together resulting in a compound which is strong and stable.
When the bricks are

Burning of bricks is done either in clamps or in kilns.
almost dry, they are set
vertically in order to
Clamps are temporary structures and they are adopted to
make room for the next manufacture bricks on small scale.
batch of bricks.
Kilns are permanent structures and they are adopted to
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A typical clamp is as shown in figure

Bulls trench kiln seen from the loading end

Design of a Bulls trench kiln

A Bulls trench kiln with a fixed chimney

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A canvas prevents air from entering the kiln from the wrong end Fired bricks being drawn from the kiln

BTK - Bull’s Trench Kiln

VSBK – Vertical Shaft Brick Kiln
Firing Process 19 20

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Traditional indian clay brick kiln Vertical Shaft Brick Kiln

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Bull’s trench brick kiln brick clamp

DIMENSIONS OF BRICKS CLASSIFICATION OF CLAY BRICKS

Prescribed size of bricks as per Indian Standards.

Bricks can broadly be divided into two categories.
Size Ordinary brick Tile brick (i) Unburnt or sundried bricks
(in cm) (in cm)
(ii) Burnt bricks
Actual 19 x 9 x 9 19 x 9 x 4
Nominal 20 x 10 x10 20 x 10 x 4
(i) Un burnt or Sun dried bricks-

Nominal size of bricks is the size including the thickness of UN burnt or sun dried with the help of heat received from sun
mortar in brickwork after the process of moulding. These bricks can only be used in

Depression made on top of brick is known as frog. the constructions of temporary and cheap structures. Such
bricks should not be used at places exposed to heavy rains.

(ii) Burnt Bricks:

The bricks used in construction works are burnt bricks and
they are classified into the following four categories.
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a. First Class bricks:

These bricks are table moulded and of standard shape. The surface and edges
of the bricks are sharp, square, smooth and straight. They comply all the
qualities of good bricks and used for superior work of permanent nature. PROPERTIES OF BRICK
b. Second class bricks:
These bricks are ground moulded and they are burnt in kilns. The surface of
Color
bricks is some what rough and shape is also slightly irregular. These bricks
are commonly used at places where brick work is to be provided with a coat of

Texture
plaster.
Porosity
c. Third class bricks:
Fire Resistance
These bricks are ground moulded and they burnt in clamps. These bricks are

Size variation
not hard and they have rough surfaces with irregular and distorted edges.
These bricks give dull sound when struck together. They are used for
Compressive strength
unimportant and temporary structures and at places where rainfall is not

Absorption.
heavy.
d. Fourth class bricks:
These are over burnt bricks with irregular shape and dark colour. These
bricks are used as aggregate for concrete in foundation, floors, roads, etc
because of the fact that the over burnt bricks have compacted structure 25 and 26
hence, they are some times found stronger than even first class bricks.

QUALITIES OF GOOD BRICK

1) Bricks should be table moulded, well burnt in kilns, copper
coloured, free from cracks and with sharp and square edges.
2) Bricks should be uniform shape and should be of standard size.
3) Bricks should give clear ringing sound when struck with each
other.
4) Bricks, when broken, should show a bright homogeneous and
compact structure free from voids.
5) Bricks should not absorb water more than 20 percent by weight
for first class bricks and 22 percent by weight for second class
bricks, when soaked in coldwater for a period of 24 hours.
To make the bricks, earth in situ is
6) Bricks should be sufficiently hard no impression should be left on mixed with water (as seen above)
brick surface when it is scratched with finger nail. allowed to sit, then put into molds
7) Bricks should have low thermal conductivity and they should be (top right) and laid out for sun
sound proof. drying (right). They are then
8) Bricks should not break when dropped flat on hard ground from a stacked and covered for baking as
height of about one meter. described in the next slide .
9) Bricks, when soaked in water for 24hours, should not show
deposits of white salts when allowed to dry in shade. 27 28
10) No brick should have crushing strength below 55kg/cm2

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There are tall smoke stacks (seen in

figure on left), each in the center of a
mound of sun dried mud bricks (shown
in figure below) which are covered with
fine ash and sand prior to baking. At one
end of this 7 ft high mound of area
120x50 sq ft are holes for crushed
charcoal which burns and produces heat
to bake bricks.

The bricks are then unearthed

and stacked for loading onto
trucks or wagons.

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