Comparison of compressive strength in mud bricks with shred tires and concrete particles as sustainable materials

Mud bricks consist of clay, water and different materials. Comparing mud bricks to concrete blocks, an evolution in reducing the cost and also in increasing the compressive strength, can be made. A weakness in mud block was shown during the experiments in the absence of additional materials. In consequence, a number of testing took place in mud bricks with different additional materials consisting of shred tires and particles waste concrete. Concrete particles are recycling materials as solid waste that is exported by concrete. To make the mud bricks, in this research different materials were used and concrete particles and shred tires were added in two layers in test boxes. This paper presents the role of different materials in mud brick strength that came as a result of our survey to their effect. The materials used are cheap one because we took them from solid waste and only a little part of them is used in the automotive industry. In this paper has been shown the change in compressive strength under additives materials in mud bricks. As a conclusion performances of mud bricks with shred tires were better than concrete particles

Performance of composite sand cement brick containing recycled concrete aggregate and waste polyethylene terepthalate

The reuse and recycling of waste materials from construction and demolition waste is one of the new concepts for brick manufacturing production. Construction and demolition debris refers to waste materials that result from the construction, renovation and demolition of buildings. Bricks are an important material for developing areas where manufacturers find it difficult to locate adequate sources due to the shortage of natural aggregate supply. Construction waste can be recycled to replace naturals resource or other competitive materials. This study aims to establish the sustainable properties for composite bricks using Recycle Concrete Aggregate (RCA) and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) waste bottles as sand aggregate replacement. RCA was obtained from crushed laboratory concrete cubes while PET bottles were collected around UTHM and Parit Raja areas. The objectives of this study are to determine the optimum cement-sand ratio (1:5, 1:6 and 1:7) for composite brick through density, compressive strength and water absorption tests, to investigate the mechanical properties and durability of composite sand cement bricks through shrinkage and carbonation tests, and to identify the optimum percentages of RCA and PET as sand aggregate replacement in composite bricks. For this study, the brick specimens were prepared using 25%, 50% and 75% of RCA and 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0% and 2.5% of PET by volume of natural sand with a water-cement ratio of 0.6. The size of the RCA used measured less than 5 mm. Moreover, the size of the sieved waste PET granules was between 0.1 to 5 mm which made it physically similar to the size of fine aggregates. The bricks were cast in moulds measuring 215 mm in length, 103 mm in width, and 65 mm in depth. Three types of sand-cement ratios were used, namely 1:5, 1:6 and 1:7. The first stage of the study was the determination of the best sand-cement ratio through density, water absorption and compressive strength tests. The next stage was the determination of the optimum percentages of RCA and PET according to the shrinkage and carbonation tests. The overall results revealed that the best cement-sand ratio was 1:6. The density test indicates that the average density of composite bricks is lower compared to that of control bricks. The cement-sand ratio of 1:6 was the optimum value for all sample bricks. In addition, the percentage of water absorption for composite bricks was found to be satisfactory. It can be concluded that the optimal replacement of RCA and PET was R25P1 with a cement-sand ratio of 1:6 as it achieved the lowest values during the drying shrinkage and carbonation tests

Improvement of strength and water absorption of Interlocking Compressed Earth Bricks (ICEB) with addition of Ureolytic Bacteria (UB)

Interlocking Compressed Earth Brick (ICEB) are cement stabilized soil bricks that allow for dry stacked construction. This characteristic resulted to faster the process of building walls and requires less skilled labour as the bricks are laid dry and lock into place. However there is plenty room for improving the interlocking bricks by increase its durability. Many studies have been conducted in order to improve the durability of bricks by using environmentally method. One of the methods is by introducing bacteria into bricks. Bacteria in brick induced calcite precipitation (calcite crystals) to cover the voids continuously. Ureolytic Bacteria (UB) was used in this study as a partial replacement of limestone water with percentage of 1%, 3% and 5%. Enrichment process was done in soil condition to ensure the survivability of UB in ICEB environment. This paper evaluates the effect of UB in improving the strength and water absorption properties of ICEB and microstructure analysis. The results show that addition of 5% UB in ICEB indicated positive results in improving the ICEB properties by 15.25% in strength, 14.72% in initial water absorption and 14.68% reduction in water absorption. Precipitation of calcium carbonate (CaCo3) in form of calcite can be distinguish clearly in microstructure analysis

Luminescence dating and mineralogical investigations of bricks from erikli basilica in Stratonikeia ancient city (SW-Turkey)

Stratonikeia is one of the oldest settlements in southwestern Anatolia and at the same time significant for an understanding of the Hellenistic period. Archaeological records of Stratonikeia date back to around 2000 BC. This study provides new information not only about luminescence age but also about mineralo-petrographic, geochemical characteristics of bricks taken from Erikli Basilica in Stratonikeia (Turkey). In this study, mineralogical data of TL and OSL dating of two bricks and two sediment samples will be presented. The bricks have highly similar mineralogical composition, consisting mainly of quartz and muscovite. These results are supported by XRD studies. In order to perform the thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, the equivalent dose (ED) and the annual dose (AD) of the samples were determined using different estimation techniques. The TL ages of bricks are determined to be 1189±89 and 576±40 years. The IRSL ages of the bricks are determined to be 1167±85 years and 545±50 years. Additionally, supporting the TL and IRSL ages, the OSL quartz ages of the two sediments obtained from the top of the layer under the floor are discovered to be about 1100 years. Mineralo-petrographic, geochemical, dating and archaeological studies have revealed that the age of bricks is different from each other. Furthermore, Erikli Basillica was built in bricks, consisting of raw materials taken from different quarries in different periods. Within the framework, the first report of the experimental approach has been published from Stratonikeia archaeological site located in Muğla, Agean Anatolia. © 2018 MAA Open Access. Printed in Greece. All rights reserved

Search for spontaneous muon emission from lead nuclei

We describe a possible search for muonic radioactivity from lead nuclei using the base elements ("bricks" composed by lead and nuclear emulsion sheets) of the long-baseline OPERA neutrino experiment. We present the results of a Monte Carlo simulation concerning the expected event topologies and estimates of the background events. Using few bricks, we could reach a good sensitivity level.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Effect of heating rate on gas emissions and properties of fired clay bricks and fired clay bricks incorporated with cigarette butts

In general, the firing process of clay bricks generates a range of gas emissions into the atmosphere. At high concentrations, these volatile emissions can be a serious source of environmental pollutions. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of different heating rates on gas emissions and properties during the firing of clay bricks and clay bricks incorporated with cigarette butts (CBs). In this investigation, four different heating rates were used: 0.7 °C min−1−1, 2 °C min−1, 5 °C min−1 and 10 °C min. The samples were fired in solid form from room temperature to 1050 °C. During the firing cycles, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides,hydrogen cyanide and chlorine emissions were measured at different heating rates. All bricks were also tested for their physical and mechanical properties including dry density, compressive strength, tensile strength, water absorption and initial rate of absorption. Results show that gas emissions were reduced significantly with higher heating rates (10 °C min) followed by 5 °C min−1−1 and 2 °C min for both types of brick samples. Higher heating rates also decrease the compressive strength and tensile strength value but demonstrate an insignificant effect on the water absorption properties respectively. In conclusion, a higher heating rate is preferable in terms of decreasing gas emissions and it is also able to produce adequate physical and mechanical properties especially for the CB brick