Baller lo aus Manufacturing of Clay Bricks The process of manufacturing g of clay bricks is carried out ina numb These are listed marie : mPa OF stages, below. Each stage has its own specific importance. ing or Moulding of brick units. ane 4. Drying of moulded bricks. Burn id Cooling of pricks. lesy ois 5uc - Stage 1. Selection of the Suitable Type of Brick Earth : a ky Good quality building bricks can not be made from every 1 Hencral statement, it may be said that any soil (carth) which cont and one part of sand is suitable for making bricks This is. a ¢ of carth or soil. As g tains four parts of clay -onstituents in the following proportions : “alg CF Ue FO oy stumina BEST: re 3\ cracks). If th ‘3 @*5 and nicel ‘ane nicely. ou'*' The above ey are present in smaller proportions, the brick will not be moulded asi led easily ercentage of alumina (20-30%) imparts the bricks sufficient plasticity «2p SilicalfS0-G0%2} This is present in two forms: the silica combined as a constituent “GIS of clay, and, the free sand or quartz, jz“ The total proportion of silica should form about 50-60 percent. (It is why the actual Oo) L Ne dp loc’ clay content and free sand content has to be broadly in the ratio of 4 1 in the wood |_Soaeee Bole 3" 6 <7 brick earth). (2'%' Silica is responsible for strength, hardness, and resistance to shrinkage and sha 2 of Byewies Dei the brick, and, also toa great extent, fr ils durability or Jong life. But if we add too much free sand in the brick earth and thereby raise the proportion of total silica in the earth, resulting bricks would be very brittle and porous and may not burn casily. BLS 5G ks quicker and therefore is considered desirable with following two conditions >> (a) it would not be more than 4% because in that case, it may cause excessive 925 softening of bricks on heating (Lime and Magnesia act as uses) nt, >3s\e (b) it must be present only ina finely powdered and thoroughly dispersed( 3.3) form. & Otherwise, ifpresent in small grains or nodules, the lime iself will gt slaked (heated) We and once the brick is used, it (lime) absorb moisture, swell, then it will easily gel Magnesia (oxide of magnesium), which is invariably associated with lime, also has similar effect. ILis their otal percentage which must be considered while determining the composition of the ‘k carth. ST ys Hepler LF GH YI Cs 295151 ASgllaslev cpbyl ahosbleoay Q13b Yes osWagep -2 Powder Jd cb yHhel-2(sp aalNuS! AL Iton Ovide (46%): Like oxides of calcium and mages iron oxide also acts SabaSl Sil eS Lo a lux, ic. i Towers down the softening 1 of silic Thine ‘addition, another imporiant function: imparts the wed colorto - Syhosls Jay the bricks. Ay ld 2) gl somes -_ The-excess ofthis oxide will make the bricks 100 soft during burning pvhere saws sels risk of deformation) besides making them darker in appearance. Sr bhig oly \st | A shortage of iron oxides in the earth will affect the final color of the bricks: instea¢ Sollee, | of being brick red they mabe ello or light ed, (The velo olor may also be due ©" #58! ye BF io incomplete burning of bricks) deur 41 elgi3o | Besides the above desired essential constituents of good brick earth, there are some el Gallal\o} materials which should not be present in the good quality brick earth at all (harmful materials) even in small percentage. ‘hoy are list below wih their harayfu effects 1) Lime Nodules: Free lime nodules will hindes($) in proper buming. They will <3 NEL e undergo also adversely(&-Sa- #4) alect the quality of inal brick 2 ori ee cea ee 1 other_vegetable fatter? This includes tosis of grasses, leaves and other veg ; al et THM will aft the quality of brick ile incompletely bumnt-during 3% UUS* sky <5} — etie Nin (5° SS Zr cldMo cS ls? ), ete. are often required to modify the shaping, drying and firing behavior of clay mass. The seasoned clay is said to be ready for conversion to mud by mixing with appropriate quantities of clean water. BS AQ obs osoae xs These, s_of selecting the carth, clearing and digging it, spreading it for Uebjobyabsl weathering are together called as winning of clays, coe pete _ sUladlelaes 9, Ub aulazcablsell o UI ssLéldsad C2 sociale Tom SOE 4 Las SAetens Uelynal! Sod wirindalal dor 9 eLatl alo VSLd Ul Tempering means converting of the prepared brick carth into a homogencous mix of ithe desired plasticity by mixing it thoroughly with proper quantities of w: This is done cither_by fahifal labor or_with the help of a specially designed, mechanical device called pug mill (mixer) (Itis a mixing chamber which contains one or more revolvi s with blades In_manual tempering. the clay is thoroughly kneaded under feet (of either men_or cattle) with gradual additions of water till desired homogeneity and plasticity are obtained. Ublades) 1 prods bas 19> «a5 Yes SF ex ayls 93% Pug wailLela[aus aboghill cabal edger Coclill IA Gop WNle-oay pies BL P91 Moutdins ol B20" Sho a) 39 ASAT ‘Stage 3: Moulding of Bricks (Forming): img is the process of making properly shaped brick units from a thorough tempered clay. There are two main methods of moulding i Epsom fing: When the job is done by skilled persons, us fachine Moulding: When specially desig wachines_are_used for moulding of | | | | | iyicks. most countries, even today, the most common met} of moulding of bricks are hand moulding. 2. su. Indl inced counts wever, mechanized brick making is the main process for large scale manufacture of bricks. Na ee |) Hand Moulding of Bricks: In hand moulding, the quality of the tempered clay is invariably soft, so that it can be moulded into the required shay t) than what is used when his reason that this method ‘Machine moulding is to be-don referred as SOFT MUD PROCESS, 5° Bricks are shaped from such a soft mud by hand cither on a specially prepared ground, (called ground moulding) or on special tables (call oulding) ‘Tools: The essential tools used jn the hand moulding process are: a brick mould, cutting wire orstrike, wooden plates called pallets, and a stock board, The mould is made cither of wood or steel Tis inside dimensions are slightly bigger (about 1/10th) than the desired dimensions of ddry bricks (because bricks will shrink on drying duc to loss of moisture) it may be a Single-unit mould ora multiple-unit mould, Iso ealled moulding block, is a small wooden block, slightly bigger in dimensions than the mould_and with a raised central projection carrying the identification mark (frog) MG ll “The pallets arc thin wooden plates for handling green bricks. Tite strike, made_up of wood or metal has its one edge quite thin to slash(le2) Surplus( =) mud: cui wie is meant forthe same use, fypes of Hand Moulding of Bricks: ‘There are two types of moulding. used in the manufacturing of bricks. Sud 1) BS rou) Mout ‘At present, this is the most common method of moulding of bricks in most countries. In this process a piece of land (the ground) is first cleaned, then thoroughly levele« and often made smooth by plastering. ‘Some sand is sprinkled uniformly over it to make it non-sticky. There are two variations of ground moulding.Machine Moulding: In.advanced countries, machine moulding is an essential part of the Mechanized brick making plants. It is both cheaper in the long run and gives bricks of uniformly good quality ‘There are two broad types of processes used in machine moulding: first, stiff mud process and second, dry press process. ‘Since we are fast progressing towards modernization in all sectors, it is appropriate to understand the basic principles of both the provesse, STIFF MUD PROCESS: The clay is mixed with only 9 small quantity (12-15%) of Water during tempering so that it is quite stiff in consistency Mier thorough mixing (pugging) the tempered clay goes through de-airing chamber in which a vacuum (375 to 725 mm) of mercury is maintained. De-airing removes air oles shys resulting in greater strength, Next the clay 1s extruded (158) through a die(—29 to produce a column of elay in which two dimensions of the final unit are determined. The column then passes through automatic cutter to make the final dimension of the brick unit, Cutter wire spacings and die sizes must be carefully calculated 10 compensate(>s») for normal shrinkage during wet stages through drying and firing. As the clay column leaves the die, textures or surface coatings may be applied. Iis yet another common method for moulding of bricks in mechanized brick manufacturi slants. In this method, only a very small quantity of water is added to finely crushed and. thoroughly cleaned clay (up to 10%) . So that the resulting, we mix_is nota plastic or stiff mud but just damp enough to take a shape under pressure, Such damp clay is fed through hoppers to special brick mould under pressures (3.4 to 10,3 MPa) using hydraulic or compressed ait rams oe thd cxeias Stage 4: Drying of Bric! After moulding, the green bricks have to be dried. This reason: y. to make them strong enough for rough handling during subsequent stages as i for examples for stacking etc s y, 10 allow a slow loss of moisture from the brick without disintegrating the (unit Ifa green brick is put to direct burning in a kiln, the rate of loss of moisture will be'so fast that the brick will erack during the burning process. Thirdly, to save fuel during the burning stage, a brick containing 20 percent moisture Will require more fuel to bum compared to a brick containing only 2-4 percent i ture, Drying of bricks is achieved either by natural methods or by artificial methods. ‘The natural drving method: there are two distinet stages Pre-stacking stage, where the moulded bricks are _first_laid(e~5!)_edgewise, side- wise( ie iy a) and flai(6sal, 4) for 2-3 days so that they become hard-enough to handle without losing shape or breaking tacking Stage, in which the hard bricks from the first st made layers, one layer above another. Stacking in the manufacturing of bricks is done in specially prepared drying grounds. Each stack may be about 20 cm wide and as Jong as the ground allows. 8 cogil 02 op (bh 2 \ea9 V3 bed Ape cow nas NAS S 92 WGA BIZ Boy (sgl cle’ ac 21d shy 9 = laa cracks akascd ntl! q is_is necessary for threé inged in well- Sy sionts sheets sacl Ol elle dt BLS G55 erie -1 9M Lone Natt Got SSI LS See on OGY a gb Nests eee + cool ise’ erkiall ods! 297-3 adams, Bpleok Hedy DIE! oe aus G02 pede BS RSM