2.2.1 Classification
Based on oxford dictionary brick is define by a small rectangular block typically made of fired or sun-dried clay, used in building. The brick unit is not exceeding 337.5x225x112.5 (LxWxT) dimensions (mm). bricks commonly made of clay, calcium silicate or concrete. These type are must relevant to the national standards, for example in the America to ASTM C73 (calcium silicate unit), ASTM C62 (clay unit), and ASTM C55 (concrete unit).
2.3 Clay brick
Clay brick are made by shaping suitable clay and shales to units of standard size, which are then fired to temperature in the range900 to 1200. The fired product is ceramic composed predominantly of silica SiO2 (generally between 55% and 65% by weight) alumina Al2O3 (10% to 25%) combined with as much as 25% of other constituent (Neil et al. 2005).
Clay bricks are used in a wide range of buildings from housing to factories, and in the construction of tunnels, waterways, bridges etc. Their properties vary according to the purpose for which they are intended, but clays have provided the basic material of construction for centuries. Brick is the oldest manufactured building material, and much of its history is lost in antiquity. The oldest burnt or fired bricks have been found on the sites of the ancient cities of Babylonia, some of which are estimated to be about 6000 years old. Brick is, after all, virtually indestructible.
Table 2.1: Classification of brick by compressive strength and water absorption
(ASTM C62)
Designation Compressive Strength, psi(MPa) Maximum Water Absorption by 5-h Boiling, %
Average of 5 bricks Individual Average of 5 bricks Individual
Grade SW 3000 (20.7) 2500 (17.2) 17 20
Grade MW 2500 (17.2) 2200 (15.2) 22 25
Grade NW 1500 (10.3) ...
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...inclusion of fly ash resulted in the reduction in compressive strength of concrete specimen. It has also been reported that the reduction in the compressive strength of quarry dust concrete was compensated by inclusion of fly ash into the concrete mix. Reddy (2007) reported an increasing compressive strength by use of quarry rock flour as fine aggregate instead of river sand.
Based on Abdullah M.J, the increasing percentage of quarry dust as a replacement of sand will decreasing the water absorption. By this research, it reveals that the quarry dust will increasing the strength of the brick.
2.6.4 Kenaf Fiber
2.6.5 Water
Water used in concrete, in addition with cement and thus causing it to set and harden, also facilities mixing, placing and compaction of the fresh concrete. In general water fit for drinking such as tap water, is acceptable for mixing concrete.
such as clay, shale, or blast-furnace slag. Either a dry or a wet process is
The story of the three little pigs mirrors the heaviness of the brick. Their houses made of straw and sticks are blown away by the simple breath, revealing conversely the heaviness and solidity of the brick as a construction material. It is also an ample proof that numerous old buildings preserved today are mostly made of bricks or stones. The basilica where Leonardo da Vinci painted “The Last Supper” in 1494 was built of red bricks. Aula Palatina, as known as the Basilica of Constantine, was built with fired bricks around AD 310; this edifice
Besides the known inventions and renovations of the Roman Empire, one of the building materials that the Roman Empire produced was concrete. With its strength, inexpensiveness and its easiness to work, the Roman Empire left an everlasting impact. Concrete that is a mixture of aggregate, which is usually gravel, sand or small stones, binding agents, and water is used to construct buildings and infrastructure. The first one, aggregate, gives the product its mass while the second one, binding agents, is used to harden the product. In the early times of the history, limestone powder was usually used as a binding agent in the mixture. The Romans later used “pulvis puteolanus” (pozzolanic ash), which was a fine volcanic ash as a binding agent and it allowed Romans to have strong concrete that is also durable (Yegeul, n.d.). It was easy to use
Once I sat down to make my pottery, I decided to make something I thought would have been useful to hunter-gatherer societies, to the individuals that first utilized pottery. I tried to imagine what sorts of vessels would have been a necessity to these people. I concluded that a larger container capable of carrying water over distances would have been more useful than a smaller bowl. I wanted to make a container large enough to transport water. It needed to be light enough to carry for long periods of time. And, it would have to be durable so as not to crack or spill water while being transported. With these thoughts in mind, I began molding my clay.
Later on, in the first century AD, the Romans began to use concrete in greater use. The architects of Rome used this concrete to make many structures including domes, arches, and vaults. They added bricks to these structures to improve the strength of the building. After adding the bricks, they put on an extra layer of marble for decoration.
Concrete: The Romans invented concrete, a strong and light building material. The Colosseum was built with thousands of tons of concrete, and it is still a popular monument today, enduring milleniums. Concrete is seen as a revolution to comtempary architecture because it is used worldwide today.
In laying brick, the motions used in laying a single brick were reduced from eighteen to
Minerals are found worldwide and have many uses. The mineral gypsum is just one of the thousands named. Gypsum has always been a critical mineral in the building of many ancient constructions, and is being used still in today’s construction. (The History of Gypsum, 1985) It is speculated that the first use of it was in ancient Greece, where is was called “gypsos”, or “selenite”, but, gypsum’s first recorded use was in Ancient Egypt, where they used it in the building of the Pyramids. They used the material called “Alabaster” (which is a form of gypsum), but later in the 18th century, they realized that gypsum in its natural and raw state, was much too wet, so they altered it to create the building material called “Plaster of Paris”. (The Gypsum Association, n.d.)
The Mesopotamians found out that clay is an extremely versatile natural resource, one way that is was used was a mud brick. A mud brick was a lump of clay shaped usually into a rectangular and dried under the sun to create a tough brick. These mudbricks were revolutionary as taller structures were built. Although these bricks could not fight water, they led to the invention of the actual brick. The author of the Epic uses clay differently, Endiku is made of clay, and when he dies, Gilgamesh says that his friend has turned into clay. This was a brilliant way of incorporating clay into the story as there was nowhere in the story where clay could pop up, so the author has one of the main characters made from clay to subtly show how important clay was to
The need to store things led to the development of containers, first among them bags of fiber or leather, woven baskets and pottery. But clay lends itself to many other purposes: bricks, statuettes, funerary offerings, toys and games etc. Pottery, the molding of form out of a formless mass and its becoming imperishable through firing, is the most miraculous kind of creation.
Building materials for housings in Roman and post-Roman times. Ward-Perkins begins by comparing the tiles used for roofing to pottery and how they were made in a similar process and sold like pottery. He discussed how tiles used in Roman times were common like pottery, and after post Roman time, the building material began to change, “. Every one of the building crafts introduced by the Romans, the mundane as well as the luxury ones, disappeared completely during the fifth century. All new buildings in the fifth and sixth centuries, whether in Anglo-Saxon or unconquered British areas, were either roofed in wood or thatch” (Ward-Perkins, 108).
Nowadays, it will not be inept to inform that the universe is going over a construction boom. In truth, in the past few decades an entire affair of construction has altered dramatically like all other aspects of life. Currently, construction is no more just about keeping one brick above the other, but a diverse more than that. With the present scenario, the construction work encompasses all the aspects of construction like, performance, optimization, developing and designing. As an outcome, construction chemicals have become an essential part of the world construction industry. These chemicals are typically utilized to impart different properties into the layout.
Concrete and masonry products contain silica sand and rock containing silica. Since these products are primary materials for construction, construction workers may be easily exposed to respirable crystalline silica during activities such as the following:
Concrete is a composite material used widely in the construction industry. Concrete is basically a mixture of cement, water, aggregates and admixture (sometimes). Cement is a fine gray powder that consists of oxidizes calcium, silicon and aluminum. The aggregate used is normally gravel, crushed stone or sand. Admixture is a solid or liquid substance that gives a certain characteristics of the concrete. The cement reacts with water chemically and binds the aggregates together through a process called hydration during hardening or curing of concrete. It means that water helps in the hardening of the concrete while the cement bind the aggregate and also react with water to form a solid mass.
Opus caementicium or Roman concrete is a synthetic construction substance that’s composed of an aggregate, a binding agent, and water. In Rome’s case, as discovered by UC Berkley with the extensive analysis of a sample of Roman concrete taken from a breakwater in Italy’s Pozzuoli Bay it was developed by using lime and volcanic rock which formed a mortar, the mortar and volcanic rock were then packed into wooden forms and when seawater was added a chemical reaction occurred, bonding everything together to create concrete (History, 2013). It is uncertain when Roman concrete was developed, but it was clearly in widespread and customary use from about 150 BC; some scholars believe it was developed a century before that.