1.BRICKS

2. Bricks are one of the oldest known building materials dating back to 7000BC where they were first found in southern Turkey and around Jericho. The first bricks were sun dried mud bricks. Fired bricks were found to be more resistant to harsher weather conditions, which made them a much more reliable brick for use in permanent buildings, where mud bricks would not have been sufficient. 3. Bricks now Bricks are more commonly used in the construction of buildings than any other material except wood. Brick and terracotta architecture is dominant within its field and a great industry has developed and invested in the manufacture of many different types of bricks of all shapes and colours. With modern machinery, earth moving equipment, powerful electric motors and modern tunnel kilns, making bricks has become much more productive and efficient. Bricks can be made from variety of materials the most common being clay but also calcium silicate and concrete. With clay bricks being the more popular, they are now manufactured using three processes soft mud, dry press and extruded. Also during 2007 the new fly ash brick was created using the by-products from coal power plants. 4. How bricks are made? 5. Bricks are made from wetting clay which you press it into a mould and then bake the clay in an oven until it is hard. The traditional way 6. Raw Materials Natural clay minerals, including kaolin and shale, make up the main body of brick. Small amounts of manganese, barium, and other additives are blended with the clay to produce different shades, and barium carbonate is used to improve brick's chemical resistance to the elements. Many other additives have been used in brick. A wide variety of coating materials and methods are used to produce brick of a certain color or surface texture. Sometimes a flux or frit (a glass containing colorants) is added to produce surface textures..Other materials including graded fired and unfired brick, nepheline 7. The Manufacturing Process 1-Grinding, sizing, and combining raw materials 2-Extrusion 3-Coating 4-Drying 5-firing 8. Brick format 9. The format of brick is 90mm x 90mm x 90mm and 190mm x190mm x 190mm . With mortar joints ,the size of these bricks are taken as 200mm x 100mm x 100mm and 200 mm x 100 mm x 50 mm . The most common brick size is the Imperial Brick, which measures 222mm long x 106mm wide x 73mm high with a mass of between 3.0kg. There are also other sizes and formats available. 10. Types of bricks 11. Concrete Bricks These bricks have either pale green or gray color. These are prepared from a small, dry aggregate concrete which is formed in steel molds by using vibration and compaction. The entire manufacturing process is incurred either in an egg Layer or static machine. Rather than firing, the curing process is used to convert the blocks thus prepared into bricks under low pressure steam. High Alumina Bricks High alumina bricks from 50% upto 90% Alumina are made with various selected superior grade aggregates to meet the various service conditions of various types of furnaces like laddie, blast furnace, cement and sponge iron Rotary Kiln, calciner , etc., The 90% alumina dense bricks are manufactured from tabular alumina purer micro fine alumina and other special type raw material and fired in ultra high temperature kiln at 1650-1700BC. Due to the intent micro structural features of the raw materials used for these bricks, they have excellent resistance to wear and thermal shock. 12. Fire Brick A fire brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction and sized to be layed with one hand using mortar. Bricks may be made from type of material .These are built primarily to withstand high heat and also find applications in extreme mechanical, chemical, or thermal stresses. The brick is widely used as refractory insulating bricks for maintaining insistent temperature. Light Weight Hollow Blocks This blocks are used in construction of houses in earthquake prone areas. These bricks are made of fly ash, cement, lime, gypsum, stone dust etc. Available in different sizes. Hollow concrete blocks is used as substitute for conventional bricks or stones used in construction of buildings. And the blocks' importmant feature 13. Properties of bricks 14. Aesthetic Bricks offer natural and a variety of colors, including various textures Strength Bricks offer excellent high compressive strength. Porosity The porosity of bricks in attributed to its fine capillaries. The ability to release and absorb moisture is one of the most important and useful properties of bricks, regulating temperatures and humidity inside structures. Fire Resistance When prepared properly a brick structure can give a fire protection maximum rating of 6 hours 15. Sound Insulation The brick sound insulation is normally 45 decibels for a 4.5 inches brick thickness and 50 decibels for a nine inch thick brick. Insulation Bricks can exhibit above normal thermal insulation when compared to other building materials. Bricks can help regulate and maintain constant interior temperatures of a structure due to their ability to absorb and slowly release heat. This way bricks can produce significant energy savings, more than 30% of energy saving, when compared to wood. Wear A brick is so strong, that its molecular composition provides excellent wear resistance. Efflorescence Efflorescence forms on concrete structures and surfaces when soluble salts dissolved in water are deposited and accumulated on surfaces forming a visible scum. 16. Classification 17. The bricks used in construction are classified as: First class bricks Second class bricks Third class bricks Fourth class bricks 18. Tests on bricks 19. Crushing strength test Water Absorption test Efflorescence test Hardness test Size, Shape and Color test Soundness test Structure test 20. USES 21. Structural uses: such as foundations walls and floors. Decorative/ornamental uses: May be cast to from moldings and other decorative features may be carved also may be used in a variety of colors, textures, bonds and joints. May be concealed by other finish materials such as stucco, plaster or paint, or may be exposed both on the interior and exterior. Bricks are also used in the metallurgy and glass industries for lining furnaces. They have various uses, especially refractory bricks such as silica, magnesia, chamotte andneutral (chromomagnesite) refractory bricks. This type of brick must have good thermal shock resistance, under load, high melting point, and satisfactory porosity. Bricks are used for building and pavement . Earlier brick pavement was found incapable of withstanding heavy traffic,but it is coming back into use as a method of traffic calming or as adecorative surface in pedestrian precincts. 22. Advantages 23. The use of materials such as brick and stone can increase the thermal mass of building, giving increased comfort in the heat of summer and cold of winter and can be ideal for passive solar applications. Brick typically will not require painting and so can provide a structure with reduced life cycle costs, although sealing appropriately will reduce potential spalling due to frost damage. Concrete block of the non decorative variety generally is painted or stuccoed if exposed. The appearance especially when well crafted, can impart an impression of solidity and permanence. Brick is very heat resistant material and thus will provide good fire protection. Being much more resistant to cold and moist weather conditions, brick enabled the construction of permanent buildings in regions where