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MATERIAL MODULE : BRICK

BRICKS

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The lecture held on 02/09/2019 emphasized on BRICK as a building material. It is a material which has been
used through the ages and is categorized as a traditional building material. The lecture discussed on the making
of brick, it's composition and different type and make. A Documentary on bricks by History channel was
presented to introduce Brick and its history and use through the ages.
Brick is one of the oldest building material manufactured by man. Neolithic era excavations portray traces of
bricks which are simply molded with hands into a rough loaf shape and then stacked up to make a house which
was then covered with mud from the outside. Later in period there were technical advancements in making of
brick and wooden moulds of standard sizes started to be used on sites. Egyptian civilization were the few to
utilize these techniques way before Romans. A mould gave the accuracy to make bricks of same size to be
utilized in construction. The bricks used by the Egyptians were mud bricks which are commonly known as
ADOBE bricks. To make adobe bricks, mud is mixed with straw to add strength and to control shrinking and
cracking of the brick after drying it. After the brick is molded, it is set out in the sun to dry. One of the
drawbacks of the adobe bricks was that it is destroyed by water and moisture and it disintegrates with time.
Because of this perhaps the biggest innovation was to fire the clay bricks. A clay brick to be fired needs exactly
950-1100oc to be fired perfectly if not they remain soft and crumble easily and if so fired more they become
fragile, brittle and tend to break. Clay generally contains silica and alumina, which is further added with
additives and minerals, which is burnt at suitable temperature. The reaction which undertakes is that alumina and
silica particles fuse together and bind to form a material similar to glass, non crystalline, hard and strong. This
process is known as Vitrification of bricks.
After the Great fire of London in September 1666, regulatory codes were laid out and all of London was rebuilt
with the new fire resistant material BRICK! The fire almost destroyed all the wooden structures of the medieval
era and Sir Christopher Wren, architect at the Royal court laid out plans for the city. This is when modular brick
size was standardized. The face of the brick was larger on the surfaces of setting and narrow sideways to take
good compression of the loading on it. Also different bonds were introduced for good masonry.
In conclusion, it was understood that there are three types of bricks according to the process of manufacturing,
first is molded bricks which are shaped in moulds and fired in oven, second is dry pressed in which bricks are
made by applying compressive force and the third type is by extrusion in which low moisture clay is used by
pressing it. This also makes the brick less porous and they're commonly known as Wire cut bricks.

Satyajeet Chavan FA PG 190865 Page 22