Journal of Scientific & Industrial Research

Vol. 65, February 2006, pp. 153-159

Firing temperature and firing time influence on mechanical and physical

properties of clay bricks
Sedat Karaman*, Sabit Ersahin and Hikmet Gunal
Gaziosmanpasa University, Agricultural Faculty, 60250 Tokat-Turkey

Received 09 March 2005; revised 17 November 2005; accepted 14 December 2005

The effects of firing time and temperature on compressive strength, water absorption, bending strength, weight loss,
firing shrinkage and densities of clay bricks were determined. For a given clay and method of manufacture, higher
compressive and bending strengths, higher density and lower absorptions are associated with higher firing temperatures.
Increasing firing time only slightly altered the mechanical and physical properties of clay bricks. However, firing
temperature significantly affected the physical properties. The results suggested that firing temperature was the key factor to
modulate the physical properties in clay bricks. However, the effect of firing time was not significant. The results obtained
in this study can only be compared to the properties of bricks produced under similar conditions with similar raw materials.

Keywords: Clay brick, Firing temperature, Firing time, Physical and mechanical properties
IPC Code: G01N33/38

Introduction firing time and temperature on compressive strength,

Clay brick has been found in the ruins of ancient
civilizations including parts of the Great Wall of
China1. Properties of bricks are affected as a result of
physical, chemical and mineralogical changes2,3.
Compressive strength and water absorption are two
major physical properties of brick that are good
predictors of brick's ability to resist cracking of face4.
Compressive strength is highly affected by firing
temperature, method of production, physical,
chemical and mineralogical properties of the raw
material2,5. Water absorption is a measure of available
pore space and is expressed as a percentage of the dry
brick weight. It is affected by properties of clay,
method of manufacturing and degree of firing. Water
absorption capacity of the brick affects the surface
finishing of the brick-laid wall1,3,6,7.
Firing shrinkage increases with higher
temperatures6. Varying in firing temperature and
firing time has important effects on quality of bricks.
Decreasing firing temperature and shortening firing
time do not only reduce the cost of production but
also increase the productivity of the factory1. The
purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of
____________________
*Author for correspondence
Tel: +90 356 2521616 (ext.2106); Fax: +90 356 2521480
E-mail: skaraman@gop.edu.tr
water absorption, bending strength, weight loss, firing
shrinkage and densities of clay bricks.
Materials and Methods
Soil materials were taken from a brick-
manufacturing factory located at Tokat-Turhal Cayl site
in Turkey. The mineralogy of samples was determined
by X-ray diffraction8. Soil texture, plastic and liquid
limits, and plasticity index were determined9,10.
A predetermined weight of air-dried clay was
mixed with a sufficient amount of water and kept at
room temperature. It was then dry pressed into a
mold, and 4x4x8 cm3 blocks were prepared.
Specimens were initially dried under room
temperature for 24 h and then at 200C in a muffle
furnace for 24 h. After heating to 200C, brick loses
most of the water added to clay during the preparation
phase11. Drying was carried out before the firing stage
when the moisture content of the clay is high in order
to prevent the swelling or bloating of the samples at
high temperature, caused by the expansion of
entrapped water. Each specimen was marked and
weighed before firing in an electric furnace.
The bricks fired at 550C turned reddish because
of the oxidation of ferrous silicate. At this
temperature, dehydroxylation takes place and
carbonaceous organic matter starts to burn off12.
154 J SCI IND RES VOL 65 FEBRUARY 2006
However, the firing temperature (550C) is lower than
the quartz inversion temperature of silica, which
changes its crystal form at 573C12. Therefore,
minimum temperature for brick firing in this study
was 700C. Firing operations were conducted in an
electrical furnace at 700-1100C in steps of 100C
increment. To examine the effect of firing time on
physical properties of brick, each of 5 firing
temperatures was maintained at 120, 240, 360 and
480 min, consequently. Here firing time means that
the firing to be maintained after the corresponding
firing temperature is set. The rate of firing process is
very important as it attains the final properties of the
product. Rapid firing causes the bloating of clay due
to the formation of an impermeable vitrified outer
skin preventing the loss of gases such as water vapor
and CO2 from the interior of the clay. Therefore,
furnace temperature was gradually increased from
300C to firing temperature of each treatment13,14.
Having firing completed, hot specimen was
allowed to cool down, gradually decreasing
temperature of the furnace. Having the furnace turned
off, specimen was allowed to stay 120 min in the
furnace and then removed from the furnace. Size
(length, width, and depth), dry weight and dry volume
of each specimen were measured. Each treatment was
repeated with ten replicates. The properties
(compressive strength, bending strength, water
absorption, density, firing shrinkage and weight loss)
for specimen fired at varying temperatures and firing
times were measured for all ten samples. Compressive
strength was determined by a conventional
compression rig. The crosshead speed was set
following the ASTM C67-73 guidelines. Compression
load was determined by a standard ring15. Water
absorption of a brick is expressed as a percentage, and
defined as ratio of the weight of water that is taken up
into its body divided by dry weight of the unit.
Percentage of water absorption was determined by
submersing the brick in water for 24 h and then
measuring the amount of water embedded by the
brick.
The statistical parameters, mean, and standard
deviation were calculated for each property at each
firing temperature and time. The relationship between
each treatment (firing temperature and firing time)
and each of the variables (compressive strength,
bending strength, water absorption, density, firing
shrinkage and weight loss) were described with
polynomial regression equations. Before conducting
the regression analysis, scatter plots between variables
and properties were used to check the nature of the
relationship. The normality test was conducted to
check the need to transform the data for the
properties.
Results and Discussion
Mineralogical composition of clay material was a
mixture of illite, kaolinite, chlorite, dolomite,
hematite and quartz (Fig. 1). Some physical properties
of raw material for bricking are as follows: liquid
limit, 33.23; plastic limit, 24.65; and clay material
(sand 12.8, silt 44, clay 43.2), 43.12%; plastic index,
8.64; and texture, SiC. Clay raw materials meet
chemical and morphological properties, compositions,
and a texture suggested for brick manufacturing16.
Compressive Strength
Compressive strength of brick is remarkably
improved by firing at higher temperatures (Table 1).
With increase in firing temperature, compressive
strength increased as follows: 700-800oC, 31.1; and
700-1100oC, 253.3 %. Sharp increase in strength at
1000oC and above may be attributed to the enhanced
vitrification in the clay materials (Fig. 2a). Increase in
compressive strength is due to decrease in porosity
and increase in bulk density with increasing
temperature2. The density of bricks increased as
temperature decreased along with increasing
compressive strength (Tables 1 and 2).
Firing time (120-480 min) is the time that the
material was subjected to the firing process at the
corresponding firing temperature (700-1100C). The
firing time had no significant effect on the
compressive strength (Fig. 2b). Increasing firing time
(120-480 min) resulted in small increase (7%) in
compressive strength of the clay brick (Table 1).
Energy consumption in brick production is both time
and temperature dependent. Since increasing firing
time does not improve the quality of brick, prolonged
firing time will result in waste of energy and time,
thereby increasing the cost of production.
Water Absorption
The average water absorption determined by
submersion in water for 24 h must be less than
18 percent17. In this study, water absorption of all the
bricks produced at each firing temperature and firing
time met the criteria specified by Turkish Standards
Institute15 (Table 1). High values of water absorption
obtained in this study indicate that the clay bricks
produced were highly porous. Internal structure of the
 KARAMAN et al: FIRING TEMPERATURE AND TIME INFLUENCE ON CLAY BRICKS PROPERTIES 155

Fig. 1 X-ray pattern of clay material evaluated during the study

brick is expected to be intensive enough to avoid

intrusion of water18. A significant linear relationship
occurred between water absorption and firing
temperature (Table 1, Fig. 3a). However, effect of firing
time on water absorption was nonsignificant (Fig. 3b).
Similarly, abundant smaller pores3 were found in the
clay bricks fired below 900C. However, above 900C,
total pore size and consequently water absorption
decreased sharply due to the vitrification at low water
absorption occurring at 1000 and 1100C and introduces
difficulties in holding mortar to the brick.
In other studies3,18,19, water absorption decreased
significantly when the temperature increased due to
Fig. 2a Variation of compressive strength with firing the formation of the amorphous phase at high firing
temperature temperatures. The presence of amorphous silica
formed at high firing temperatures could also support
the results of this study. The water absorption values
obtained after 120 min of firing were greater than
those obtained after 480 min of firing (Table 1).

Bending Strength
Effect of firing temperature on bending strength did
not occur initially. However, noticeable increases were
observed in bending strength at firing temperatures over
900C. A second-degree polynomial regression equation
(Fig. 4a) adequately described this relationship (P<0.01,
r2= 0.96). Since the effect of firing time on bending
strength was not significant (Fig. 4b), no attempt was
Fig. 2bVariation of compressive strength with different firing made to describe the relationship between bending
time strength and firing time.
156 J SCI IND RES VOL 65 FEBRUARY 2006

Fig. 3aVariation of water absorption with firing temperature Fig. 3bVariation of water absorption with different firing time

Table 1 Effects of firing time and temperature on compressive Table 2 Effects of firing time and temperature on firing
strength, water absorption and bending strength of clay bricks shrinkage, weight loss and density of clay bricks
Firing temp Firing time, min Firing temp Firing time, min
C 120 240 360 480 C 120 240 360 480
Compressive strength, MPa Firing shrinkage, %
700 Mean 8.532 8.827 9.022 9.12 700 Mean 4.6 4.8 4.6 4.8
Std. Deviation 0.211 0.288 0.266 0.220 Std. Deviation 0.163 0.205 0.133 0.176
800 Mean 11.7 11.4 11.7 11.9 800 Mean 5.3 5.4 5.4 5.4
Std. Deviation 0.464 0.356 0.380 0.294 Std. Deviation 0.279 0.262 0.327 0.275
900 Mean 15.4 15.5 15.4 16.1 900 Mean 6.1 6.4 6.3 6.3
Std. Deviation 0.535 0.200 0.267 0.200 Std. Deviation 0.200 0.258 0.340 0.211
1000 Mean 22.85 22.66 22.94 23.11 1000 Mean 7.2 7.3 7.2 7.2
Std. Deviation 0.700 0.306 0.366 0.238 Std. Deviation 0.189 0.194 0.258 0.455
1100 Mean 31.13 31.2 31.1 31.4 1100 Mean 8.2 7.9 8.1 8.2
Std. Deviation 0.048 0.194 0.105 0.294 Std. Deviation 0.386 0.604 0.170 0.221
Water absorption, % Weight loss, %
700 Mean 18.19 18.32 18.301 18.33
700 Mean 4.61 4.758 4.79 4.92
Std. Deviation 0.248 0.279 0.193 0.226 Std. Deviation 0.101 0.020 0.030 0.035
800 Mean 18.17 18.12 18.08 17.94 800 Mean 5.33 5.38 5.48 5.56
Std. Deviation 0.217 0.324 0.324 0.322 Std. Deviation 0.052 0.020 0.041 0.052
900 Mean 16.79 16.58 16.37 16.12 900 Mean 5.92 5.96 5.94 5.97
Std. Deviation 0.325 0.319 0.236 0.336 Std. Deviation 0.022 0.030 0.028 0.035
1000 Mean 13.42 13.45 13.31 13.14 1000 Mean 6.07 6.15 6.2 6.21
Std. Deviation 0.361 0.394 0.206 0.211 Std. Deviation 0.066 0.066 0.040 0.032
1100 Mean 9.25 9.27 9.14 8.97 1100 Mean 6.22 6.25 6.29 6.31
Std. Deviation 0.394 0.182 0.211 0.382 Std. Deviation 0.035 0.037 0.024 0.042
Bending strength, MPa Density, g cm-3
700 Mean 2.255 2.354 2.451 2.453 700 Mean 1.67 1.68 1.67 1.67
Std. Deviation 0.227 0.208 0.154 0.184 Std. Deviation 0.0469 0.0480 0.0200 0.0173
800 Mean 2.943 2.747 2.944 3.236 800 Mean 1.7 1.69 1.7 1.71
Std. Deviation 0.227 0.185 0.419 0.396 Std. Deviation 0.0245 0.0361 0.0300 0.0424
900 Mean 3.923 4.119 3.924 4.218 900 Mean 1.74 1.73 1.75 1.77
Std. Deviation 0.234 0.318 0.181 0.374 Std. Deviation 0.0265 0.0200 0.0265 0.0283
1000 Mean 6.078 5.883 5.983 6.079 1000 Mean 1.77 1.77 1.76 1.79
Std. Deviation 0.244 0.258 0.338 0.558 Std. Deviation 0.0469 0.0173 0.0173 0.0548
1100 Mean 8.336 8.531 8.63 8.729 1100 Mean 1.84 1.84 1.83 1.85
Std. Deviation 0.243 0.231 0.207 0.637 Std. Deviation 0.0283 0.0316 0.0300 0.0332
 KARAMAN et al: FIRING TEMPERATURE AND TIME INFLUENCE ON CLAY BRICKS PROPERTIES
Fig. 4aVariation of bending strength with firing temperature
Fig. 4bVariation of bending strength with different firing time
Firing Shrinkage
Firing temperature is a key factor affecting
shrinkage in the firing process18. High shrinkage
causes destruction of bricks both in firing and drying
stages of production. Shrinkage in bricks occurs as
chemically and mechanically bound water is lost. A
highly significant linear relationship occurred
between firing temperature and shrinkage (Fig. 5a).
However, increasing firing time had no significant
effect on firing shrinkage at any firing temperatures
(Fig. 5b).
Weight Loss
Increasing the firing temperature resulted in
increase in brick weight loss (Table 2, Fig. 6), which
is 15 percent for a standard clay brick. In general, loss
of weight under firing over 800C is attributed to the
loss of organic matter in clay. Furthermore, brick
weight loss also depends on the inorganic substances
in clay being burnt off during the firing process18. A
second-degree polynomial regression equation
adequately described the effect of firing temperature
on the weight loss of clay bricks (Fig. 6a). However,
157
Fig. 5aVariation of firing shrinkage with firing temperature
Fig. 5bVariation of firing shrinkage with different firing time
firing time (Fig. 6b) had no significant effect on
weight loss, suggesting that weight loss caused by
dehydroxylation and carbonaceous matter burnt off, is
not a time dependent process1.
Density
Density of a clay brick depends on specific
gravity of clay, method of manufacture, and degree of
burning. Density18,20 of burned bricks made with clay
usually exceeds 1.6 g/cm3, averaging 2.0 g/cm3. In
this study, density was remarkably improved by firing
at higher temperatures (Fig. 7a). When density of a
brick decreases, its strength and heat conductance
decreases and water absorption increases. When the
mixture absorbs more water, brick exhibits a larger
pore size, resulting in a lower density18. The density
of the bricks varied from 1.61 g/cm3 at 700C to
1.77 g/cm3 at 1100 C (Table 2). Density increased
linearly (Fig. 7a) as firing temperature was raised
(700-1100C). This finding is closely related to the
quantity of water absorbed at this point (Fig. 3a), and
the decreasing in porosity. When the mixture absorbs
more water, brick exhibits a larger pore size, resulting
in a lighter density. Firing time longevity had no
effect on the density of clay bricks (Fig. 7b).
158 J SCI IND RES VOL 65 FEBRUARY 2006
Fig. 6aVariation of weight loses with firing temperature
Fig. 6bVariation of weight loss with different firing time
Conclusions
The strength of bricks increases and water
absorption decreases with increase in firing
temperature (700-1100C). The density and firing
shrinkage of brick fired at 700-1100C also increased
with the increasing firing temperature. Prolonged
firing time had no significant effects on the properties
of bricks investigated; therefore, unnecessary longer
firing times should be avoided to save time and
energy. The optimum firing time and temperature
needed to produce durable bricks with the given
material needs determining for an environmental
sound production. The results obtained and
conclusion made in this study can only be applicable
to the properties of bricks produced under similar
conditions and similar raw materials.
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