BRICKS AND TILES
BRICK
Clay brick continues to be a popular construction material because of being cheap, durable
and easy to handle and work with. Clay bricks are used for building-up exterior and interior
walls, partitions, piers, footings and other load bearing structures.
A brick is rectangular in shape and of size that can be conveniently handled with one hand.
Clay bricks are commonly used since these are economical and easily available. The length,
width and height of a brick are interrelated as below:
Length of brick = 2 × width of brick
Height of brick = 0.33 x length of brick
Bricks available in most part of the country are of 9"×4.5”x3” (L x W x H) in size and weight
of this size of brick is around 3.0 Kg.
CLASSIFICATION, PROPERTIES AND USES
Clay bricks are classified as First class, Second class, Third class (Under-burnt) and Fourth
class (Over-burnt) based on their properties.
First Class Bricks
1. These are thoroughly burnt and are of reddish brown or cherry or copper colour.
2. The brick surfaces should be smooth and rectangular, with parallel, sharp and straight
edges and square corners.
3. These should be free from flaws and cracks.
4. These should have uniform texture.
5. No impression should be left on the brick when a scratch is made by a finger nail.
6. The broken surface of the brick should not show lumps of lime or stones or excessive
Voids.
7. A metallic ringing sound should come when two bricks are struck against each other.
8. Water absorption should be 12–15% of its dry weight when immersed in water for 24
hours.
9. The crushing strength of the brick should not be less than 10 N/mm2. This limit may vary
with different Government organizations.
Uses: First class bricks are used for pointing, exposed face work in masonry structures and
flooring etc.
Facing Bricks are essentially first class bricks, made primarily with a view to have good
appearance, either of colour or texture or both. These are durable under severe exposure
and are used in exterior building walls for which a pleasing appearance is required.
Second Class Bricks are supposed to have the same properties as of the first class ones
except that:
1. Small cracks and distortions may present.
2. A little higher water absorption of about 16–20% of its dry weight is allowed.
3. The crushing strength should not be less than 7.0 N/mm2.
Uses: Second class bricks are used for all important non-exposed masonry works and in RBC
(reinforced brick concrete) works.
Third Class Bricks are under burnt. These are soft and of light colour which produces a dull
sound when struck against each other. Water absorption is about 25 percent of its dry weight.
Uses: It is used for building temporary structures.
Fourth Class Bricks are over burnt and badly distorted in shape & size as well as quite brittle
in nature.
Uses: These are mostly used for making brick ballast/bats (broken pieces), which are used in
foundations of single or double storey buildings. Brick bats may also be used in intermediate
floor finish for sound absorption.
CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD BRICKS
The essential requirements of good bricks are, sufficient strength in crushing, regularity in size
& shape, low suction rate, and a pleasing appearance when exposed to view.
Size and Shape: The bricks should have uniform size and plane, rectangular surfaces
with parallel sides and sharp straight edges.
Colour: The brick should have a uniform reddish brown or cherry colour as indicative of
uniformity in chemical composition and thoroughness in the burning of the bricks.
Texture and Compactness: The surfaces should not be too smooth to cause slipping
of mortar. These bricks should have pre-compact and uniform texture. A broken surface
should not show fissures, voids or lumps of lime.
Hardness and Soundness: The brick should be so hard that when scratched by a
finger nail, no impression is made on its surface. When two bricks are struck together, a
metallic ringing sound should be produced.
Water Absorption should not exceed 15 percent of its dry weight when kept immersed
in water for 24 hours.
2
Crushing Strength should not be less than 10 N/mm .
Brick Earth should be free from stones, kankars, organic matter, saltpeter, etc.
INGREDIENTS OF GOOD BRICK EARTH
For the preparation of bricks, clay or other suitable earth is moulded to the desired shape after
subjecting it to several processes. After drying, it should not shrink and crack. The clay used for
brick preparation mainly consists of silica and alumina mixed in such a proportion that the clay
becomes plastic when water is added to it. It also consists of small proportions of lime, iron,
manganese, sulphur, etc. The proportions of various ingredients are as follows:
Silica 50–60%
Alumina/Clay 20–30%
Lime < 10%
}
Magnesia < 1%
Ferric oxide < 7% Less than 20%
Alkalis < 10%
}
Carbon dioxide
Sulphur trioxide Very small percentage
Water
FUNCTIONS OF INGREDIENTS OF BRICK EARTH
Silica: It enables the brick to retain its shape and imparts durability, prevents shrinkage
and warping. Excess of silica makes the brick brittle and weak. A large percentage of sand
or uncombined silica in clay is undesirable. However, it is added to decrease shrinkage in
burning and to increase the refractoriness of low alumina clays.
Alumina absorbs water and renders the clay plastic. If alumina is present in excess of
specified quantity, it produces cracks in brick on drying. Clays having high alumina content
are likely to be very refractory.
Lime normally constitutes less than 10 percent of clay. Lime in brick clay has the following
effects:
1. Reduces the shrinkage on drying.
2. Causes silica in clay to melt on burning and thus helps to bind it.
3. In carbonated form, lime lowers the fusion point.
4. Excess of lime causes the brick to melt and the brick loses its shape.
Magnesia rarely exceeding 1 percent, affects the colour and makes the brick yellow,
in burning; it causes the clay to soften at slower rate and reduces warping.
Iron: Iron oxide constituting less than 7 percent and imparts the following properties:
1. Gives reddish brown colour on burning when excess of oxygen is available and dark brown
or even black colour when available oxygen is insufficient, however, excess of ferric oxide
makes the brick dark blue.
2. Improves impermeability and durability.
3. Tends to lower the fusion point of the clay, especially if present as ferrous oxide.
4. Gives strength and hardness.
HARMFUL INGREDIENTS IN BRICK EARTH
Lime: When a desirable amount of lime is present in the clay, it results in good quality
bricks, but excess of it changes the colour of brick from reddish brown to yellow. When lime
is present in lumps, it absorbs moisture, swells and causes disintegration of the bricks.
Therefore, lime should be present in finely divided state and lumps, if any, should be
removed in the beginning. Experience has shown that when lime particles smaller than 3 mm
diameter hydrate, they produce only small pock mark which can be ignored. Particles
larger than 3 mm might, if present in any quantity, cause unsightly blemishes or even
cracking.
Pebbles, Gravels, Grits do not allow the clay to be mixed thoroughly and spoil the
appearance of the brick. Bricks with pebbles and gravels may crack during working.
Iron Pyrites tend to oxidize and decompose the brick during burning. The brick may split
into pieces. Pyrites dis-colourize the bricks.
Alkalies (Alkaline salts): These are mainly in the form of soda or potash. However, when
present in excess, alkali makes the clay unsuitable for bricks. It melts the clay on burning
and makes the bricks unsymmetrical. When bricks come in contact with moisture, water is
absorbed and the alkalies crystallize. On drying, the moisture evaporates, leaving behind white
powder deposits on the brick which spoil the appearance. This phenomenon is called
efflorescence, which should always be dry brushed away before plastering a wall; excessive
wetting may carry the salts back partially in to the wall to reappear later.
Efflorescence in Brick Work Stone in Brick
Organic Matter: On burning green bricks, the organic matter gets charred and leave
pores making the bricks porous; the water absorption is increased and the strength is
reduced.
Carbonaceous Materials in the form of bituminous matter or carbon greatly affects the
colour of raw clay. Unless proper precaution is taken to effect complete removal of such
matter by oxidation, the brick is likely to have a black core.
Sulphur is usually found in clay as the sulphate of calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium
or iron, or as iron sulphide. Generally, the proportion is small. If, however, there is carbon in
the clay and insufficient time is given during burning for proper oxidation of carbon and
sulphur, the sulphur will cause the formation of a spongy, swollen structure in the brick and
the brick will be decoloured by white patches.
Water: A large proportion of free water generally causes clay to shrink considerably during
drying, whereas combined water causes shrinkage during burning. The use of water containing
small quantities of magnesium or calcium carbonates, together with a sulphurous fuel often
causes similar effects as those by the sulphur.
MANUFACTURING OF CLAY BRICKS
Various operations involves in the manufacturing are as follow:
Brick
Preparation of Brick Earth
It consists of the following operations.
Un-soiling: The soil used for making bricks should be prepared so as to be free of
gravel, coarse sand (practical size more than 2 mm), lime and kankar particles, organic
matter etc. About 20 cm of the top layer of the earth, normally containing stones, pebbles,
gravel, roots, etc., is removed after clearing the trees and vegetation.
Digging: After un-soiling, suitable proportions of additives such as fly ash, sandy loam,
rice husk ash, stone dust, etc. should be spread over the plane ground surface on volume
basis. The soil mass is then manually excavated, puddled, watered and left over for
weathering and subsequent processing. The digging operation should not be done in
rainy season.
Weathering: Stones, gravels, pebbles, roots, if any, are removed from the dug earth
and the soil is heaped on level ground in layers of 60–120 cm. The soil is left in heaps
and exposed to weather for at least one month. This is done to develop homogeneity in
the soil mass, particularly if they are from different sources, and also to eliminate the
impurities which get oxidized. Soluble salts in the clay would also be eroded by rain to some
extent, which otherwise could have caused scumming at the time of burning/heating of the
bricks in the kiln. The soil should be turned over at least twice and it should be ensured that
the entire soil is wet throughout the period of weathering. In order to keep it wet, water may
be sprayed as often as necessary. The plasticity and strength of the clay are improved by
exposing the clay to weather.
Blending: The earth is then mixed with sandy-earth and calcareous-earth in suitable
proportions to modify the composition of soil. Moderate amount of water is mixed so as to
obtain the right consistency for moulding. The mass is then mixed uniformly with spades.
Addition of water to the soil at the dumps is necessary for the easy mixing and workability,
but the addition of water should be controlled in such a way that it may not create a problem
in moulding and drying. Excessive moisture is harmful and affects the strength of finished
brick.
Tempering: Tempering consists of kneading the prepared earth with feet so as to make
the mass stiff and plastic (by plasticity, we mean the property by which wet clay can be
permanently deformed without cracking). It should preferably be carried out by storing the
soil in a cool place in layers of about 30 cm thickness for not less than 36 hours. This will
ensure homogeneity in the mass of clay for subsequent processing.
Moulding
It is a process of giving a required shape to the prepared brick earth in the form of brick.
Moulding may be carried out by hand or by machine. Hand moulding is adopted where
manpower is cheap and is readily available for the manufacturing process of bricks. It may be
either in the form of Ground moulding or Table moulding. The process of moulding of bricks
may be soft-mud (hand moulding), the stiff-mud (machine moulding) or the dry-press
process (moulding using maximum 10 percent water and forming bricks at higher pressures).
Fire-brick is made by the soft mud process. Roof, floor and wall tiles are made by dry-press
method. However, the stiff-mud process is used for making all the structural clay products.
Drying
Green/freshly made bricks contain about 7–30% moisture depending upon the method
of manufacture. The object of drying is to eliminate the moisture to control shrinkage and
save fuel & time during burning. The drying shrinkage is dependent upon pore spaces within
the clay and the mixing water. The addition of sand or burnt clay reduces shrinkage,
increases porosity and facilities drying process. The moisture content is brought down to about
3 percent under exposed conditions within three to four days. Thus, the strength of the green
bricks is increased and the bricks can be handled safely.
Burning
Bricks are burned at high temperature to gain the strength, durability, density and reddish
brown colour. All the water in clay bricks is finished at the temperature of 650 oC and
these are burnt at a temperature of about 1100 oC because the fusing of sand and lime
takes place at this temperature and chemical bonding is achieved between these materials
after cooling of burnt bricks resulting into hard and dense bricks.
Bricks are not burnt above this temperature because it will result in the melting of bricks
and also result in a distorted shape & a very hard mass when cooled, which is not
suitable for the routine brickwork.
DEFECTS OF BRICKS
Over-burning of Bricks: Bricks should be heated/burned at temperatures at which
incipient, complete and viscous vitrification occur. However, if the bricks are overburnt, a
soft molten mass is produced and the bricks loose their shape. Such bricks are not used for
normal brick masonry/ construction works.
Under-burning of Bricks: When bricks are not burnt to cause complete vitrification,
the clay is not softened because of insufficient heat and the pores are not closed. This
results in higher degree of water absorption and less compressive strength. Such bricks are
not used for routine construction works but for unimportant or temporary works.
Bloating: This defect observed as spongy swollen mass over the surface of burned bricks,
caused due to the presence of excess carbonaceous matter and sulphur in the brick clay.
Black Core: When brick clay contains bituminous matter or carbon and it is not completely
removed by oxidation due to improper burning, the brick results in black core.
Efflorescence: This defect is caused because of alkalies present in the bricks. When bricks
come in contact with moisture, it is absorbed by the bricks and the alkalies crystalize. On
drying white powder patches appear on the brick surface. This problem can be minimized
by selecting proper clay materials for brick manufacturing and preventing excessive
moisture to come in contact with the brick masonry etc.
Chuffs: The deformation of the shape of bricks caused by the rain water falling on hot
bricks is known as chuffs.
Cracks: This defect may be because of lumps of lime or excess of moisture. When bricks
come in contact with water, the absorbed water reacts with lime causing expansion and
a consequent disintegration of bricks, whereas shrinkage and burning cracks result when
excess of water is added during brick manufacturing.
Spots: Iron sulphide, if present in the brick clay, results in dark surface spots on the
brick surfaces. Such bricks though not harmful but unsuitable for exposed masonry work.
Laminations: These are caused by the entrapped air in the voids of clay. Laminations
produce thin lamina on the brick faces which weather out on exposure. Such bricks are
weak in strength.
TESTS ON BRICKS
To know the quality of bricks, following tests may be performed. Some tests are
performed in laboratory and some are in the field.
• Compressive strength test
• Water absorption test
• Efflorescence test
• Hardness test
• Size, Shape and Colour test
• Soundness test etc.
Compressive strength test: This test is performed to know the compressive strength of
bricks. It is also called crushing strength. Generally 5 specimens of bricks are taken to
laboratory for testing and tested one by one after filling the frog depression and making the
brick surfaces level. In this test, a brick specimen is placed in compression machine and load
is applied till it breaks. The ultimate load at which brick is crushed is recorded. All the
five brick specimens are tested one by one and average result is taken as brick’s
compressive/crushing strength (crushing load divided by the brick testing area).
Water Absorption test: In this test, bricks are weighed in oven dry condition and then
immersed in fresh water for 24 hours. Then bricks are taken out from water and wipe
out with cloth. Each brick is weighed in wet condition. The difference between two
weights (dry and wet) is the water absorbed by the brick. The percentage of water
absorption is then calculated. The less water absorbed by brick, the greater is its quality.
Good quality bricks should not absorb more than 15% water of its dry weight.
Efflorescence test: The presence of alkalies in bricks is harmful and form a white layer
of salt on brick surfaces by absorbing moisture. To find out the presence of alkalies in
bricks, this test is performed. For this purpose a brick specimen is immersed in fresh water
for 24 hours and then taken out and allowed to dry in shade. If the whitish layer is not
visible on surface, it proves the absence of alkalies in brick. If the whitish layer i s visible
about 10% of brick surface then the presence of alkalies is in acceptable range. If that
is about 50% of surface then it is moderate. If the alkalies presence is over 50% then
the brick is seriously affected by alkalies.
Hardness test: In this test, a scratch is made on brick surface with a hard thing. If that
does not left any impression on brick surface then that is a good quality brick.
Size, shape and colour test: In this test, randomly collected 20 bricks are stacked
along lengthwise, width wise and height wise and then measured to know the variation of
sizes as compared to the standard size. Bricks are closely viewed to check, if their edges
are sharp and straight & uniform in shape. A good quality brick should have bright and
uniform colour throughout.
Soundness test: In this test, two bricks are held by both hands and struck with one
another. If the bricks give clear metallic ringing sound and do not break then these are
good quality bricks.
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