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Physical properties of the rubberized interlocking masonry brick

Article in International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology · June 2018

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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET)
Volume 9, Issue 6, June 2018, pp. 656–664, Article ID: IJCIET_09_06_075
Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/ijciet/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=9&IType=6
ISSN Print: 0976-6308 and ISSN Online: 0976-6316

© IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE RUBBERIZED

INTERLOCKING MASONRY BRICK
Amin Al-Fakih, Bashar S. Mohammed, Mohd Shahir Liew and Wesam S Alaloul
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Teknologi
PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar, 32610, Perak, Malaysia

ABSTRACT
Scrap tires consider the current major discarded waste which results in major
environmental issues. At the same time, utilization of earth based materials such as
clay, sand (soil), and cement in the production of masonry units brought about
resource depletion and environmental degradation. Rubberized interlocking bricks
was produced by incorporating 10 % of crumb rubber and 56% by volume to replace
the fine aggregate and cement, respectively. The physical characteristics of the
developed brick unit was investigated including dimension tolerance, density, net
volume, net area and water absorption. The result revealed that a rubberized
interlocking brick gave more suitable results that comply with the requirements limits
of standards codes. 250 mm length, 125 mm width, and 105 mm height was confirmed
to be the size of the developed brick and density of 1890 kg/m3 which classified as
medium weight masonry brick.
Key words: Crumb Rubber, Interlocking Bricks, Rubberized Brick and Waste
Materials.
Cite this Article: Amin Al-Fakih, Bashar S. Mohammed, Mohd Shahir Liew and
Wesam S Alaloul, Physical Properties of the Rubberized Interlocking Masonry Brick,
International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, 9(6), 2018, pp. 656–664.
http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=9&IType=6

1. INTRODUCTION
A huge quantity of wastes and discarded materials is being produced annually worldwide due
to the increase of human activities and the rapid growth in developments [1]. Several studies
revealed that the current major discarded waste is scrap tires due to their massive
disadvantages. Scrap tires do not decompose easily under natural conditions, their
accumulation cause a breeding grounds for mosquitoes and insects that are responsible for the
spread of many diseases as well as air and water pollutions [2, 3].
Moreover, the utilization of earth based materials such as clay, sand as fine and coarse
aggregates, and cement in the production of bricks brought about resource depletion, energy
consumption and environmental degradation (adverse environmental effects). Hence, it
necessitates the use of wastes and by- products as raw material for various masonry products.
Therefore, reusing/recycling of scrap tires (crumb rubber), as partial replacement of fine

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 Amin Al-Fakih, Bashar S. Mohammed, Mohd Shahir Liew and Wesam S Alaloul

aggregate, and fly ash as partial replacement of cement in the masonry units’ production will
be a feasible solution to overcome the wastes of scrap tires and reduce the consumption of
raw materials which lead to a solution of the environmental contamination, and resource
depletion.
A research conducted by Sadek and El-Attar [4] utilized fly ash and scrap tire rubber as
aggregate on manufacturing solid cement bricks and then evaluated the effects of the recycled
wastes on the performance of individual solid brick
Sodupe-Ortega, et al. [5] examined the use of crumb rubber (CR) as aggregate in dry-mix
mortars to produce rubberized long hollow blocks and bricks using automated brick
machines. Yilmaz and Degirmenci [6] evaluated the possibility of using fly ash and worn tire
mixed with Portland cement to manufacture a composite material for masonry applications.
The studies reported that utilizing worn tires and fly ash is an effective approach to produce a
masonry bricks that comply with the standards requirements which result in providing an
opportunity to reuse these wastes and thus to attain sustainability and healthy environment.
Moreover, several researches have investigated the potential use of crumb rubber in
construction materials including rubbercrete [7-9], concrete pavement [10] and in production
of geopolymer masonry blocks [11]. Other waste materials were also utilized based crumb
rubber including palm oil clinker [12, 13] and wood chipping [13].
Mortarless masonry system has been widely used on the last few decades due to the great
advantages of this system over the conventional masonry system. Dry-stack (interlocking)
bricks is a system developed to reduce the cost of construction, and reduce the skilled workers
and fasten the construction time in compare with the conventional masonry system [14, 15].
This study used a crumb rubber in the manufacturing of interlocking rubberized masonry
bricks at the same time utilizing fly ash as partial replacement of cement to reduce the
consumption of raw resources (cement).

2. EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM
1.1. Materials
Different types of raw and waste materials were used in order to meet the aims of this study
and obtain a sustainable and low cost product.
2.1.1. Cementitious Materials

Table 1 Chemical Composition of ordinary Portland cement and Fly Ash [18]
Chemical Composition OPC (%) by mass Fly Ash (%) by mass
SiO2 21.54 62.5
Fe2O3 3.63 3.5
Al2O3 5.32 23.4
CaO 63.33 1.8
MgO 1.08 0.34
Na2O - 0.24
K2O - 0.95
SO3 2.18 1.2
C3S 46.96 -
C2S 26.33 -
C3A 7.96 -
C4AF 11.05 -
Specific gravity 3.15 2.38
Loss of ignition 2.2 1.25

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 Physical Properties of the Rubberized Interlocking Masonry Brick

Type 1 ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and class F fly ash (FA) were utilized as a
cementitious materials which follow the requirements prescribed in ASTM C150 [16] and
ASTM C618-17a [17], respectively. Fly ash was utilized as cement replacement by volume.
The specific gravity, loss of ignition and chemical composition of the Portland cement and fly
ash are shown in Table 1. The specific gravity and loss of ignition were less than the
maximum value stated in the standards codes mentioned above.
2.1.2. Fine aggregate and crumb rubber (CR)
Wash river sand with maximum size of 1.2 mm was utilized as natural fine aggregate in the
production of interlocking rubberized bricks (IRBs). The fine sand was fulfilled the particle
size distribution limits prescribed in ASTM C33 [19]. Crumb rubber with grades similar to
the river sand size was used. Thus, the crumb rubber (Figure 1) was replaced the amount of
wash river sand (Figure 1) by volume percentage. The properties of river sand and crumb
rubber are shown in Table 2.

Figure 1 Crumb rubber

Table 2 Properties of wash river sand and crumb rubber [18]

Water Specific Moisture Fineness
Properties
Absorption (%) Gravity Content (%) Modulus
Fine Aggregate 4.48 2.71 16.7 2.32
Crumb Rubber - 0.95 1.15 0.92

2.2. Interlocking rubberized brick making

A stretcher rubberized interlocking brick unit was produced with a mix proportion of 1
cementitious materials to 2 fine aggregate. The cement was replaced by 56 vol.% fly ash and
the fine sand was replaced by 10 vol.% crumb rubber. The water to cement ratio was set to be
0.55 which produced a dry mix with zero slump test. The stretcher brick was casted using a
semi-automatic operated machine (Figure 2) located at the Suremor Laboratory, Universiti
Teknologi PETRONAS. After mixing, the mixture was inserted manually in the semi-
automatic machine and then the hydraulic pressure was pressed. Finally, a production of two
standard rubberized interlocking bricks were produced at a time. The identical dimension of
the final stretcher brick was 250 mm in length, 100 mm in height, and 125 mm thickness as
shown in Figure 3.

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 Amin Al-Fakih, Bashar S. Mohammed, Mohd Shahir Liew and Wesam S Alaloul

Figure 2 Interlocking Brick Machine (SIBS-75 PI)

Figure 3 Stretcher rubberized interlocking brick top face (left) and bottom face (right)

3. TEST METHODS
The physical properties of the stretcher interlocking rubberized brick was observed and
measured for the specimens aged at 28 days according to standards shown in Table 3.

Table 3 Standards codes to determine the physical properties of masonry bricks

Properties Test Method / Code No. Of Reference
Specimen
Dimension BS EN 772-16 24 [20]
Density ASTM C140-17b 5 [21]
Net Area ASTM C140-17b 5 [21]
Net Volume ASTM C140-17b 5 [21]
By Cooling ASTM C140-17b 10 [21]
Water Absorption
By Boiling ASTM C140-17b 10 [21]

3.1. Dimension
Once the prototype unit of rubberized interlocking brick is prepared, the length, width and
height of the specimens, the thickness of shells and webs, depth of holes and plane parallelism
of bed faces were measured with an appropriate device. The tolerance of measurement was set
to 1 with maximum measuring error of 0.2 mm according to BS EN 772-16 [20]. Twenty four
specimens were used to measure the defined dimensions.

3.2. Density, net volume and net area

The density of the rubberized interlocking brick was measured in according to ASTM C140-
17b [21]. Five units of rubberized interlocking brick were tested. The weight of the specimens
were measured first and recorded as received weight (Wr). The immersed wright (Wi) and the

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 Physical Properties of the Rubberized Interlocking Masonry Brick

saturated weight (Ws) was determined by immersing the specimens in water for 24 to 28
hours at room temperature (not more than 26.7oC). The specimens were left to dry for 24-
hours in a ventilated oven at 100 – 115oC and then the weight of the dried specimens was then
measured and recorded (Wd). Moreover, the volume of the specimens was determined by
water displacement method because the tested specimens do not have a regular shape. Finally,
the density, net volume and net area of the specimens were calculated by the following
equations.

Where, D is the density of the rubberized interlocking brick unit in kg/m3, Vn is the net
volume in mm3, An is the net Area in mm2, and H is the average height of the specimen in
mm.

3.3. Water Absorption

a b
Figure 4 Water absorption test of RIB a) 24 hours cold immersion test method and b) 5 hours boiling
test method

The capability of the rubberized interlocking brick to absorb water was determined by 24
hours cold immersion test method and 5 hours boiling test method accordance to ASTM C140
/ C140M - 17b [21]. For the 24 hours cold immersion test method, ten specimens were
immersed in a tank of water at room temperature. After the specimens were removed from the
immersion tank after 24 hours as shown in Figure 4a, the specimens were dried in the oven at
110℃ to 115℃ for 48 hours until a constant mass is obtained. Cool the specimen for 2 to 4
hours before the weight is recorded. While, for the 5 hours boiling method, ten specimens
were weighted before it is immersed in the water bath tank. The water then was heated for
approximately 1 hour to reach boiling point and continuously boil for another 5 hours as
shows in Figure 4b. Then, the specimens were left to cool by natural heat loss for more than
16 hours. The specimens were removed and wipe off with damp cloth before the weight is
measured.

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 Amin Al-Fakih, Bashar S. Mohammed, Mohd Shahir Liew and Wesam S Alaloul

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1. Dimension test results
Table 4 and Figure 5 show and illustrate the dimensions of rubberized interlocking brick. It
can be observed that the average measured length, width and height for one stretcher brick
unit are 249.79 mm, 125.60 mm and 105.33 mm, meanwhile the inner dimension of the brick
mould is 250.00 mm length, 125.00 mm width and 105.00 mm height. The differences in
length, width and height is 0.21 mm, 0.60 mm and 0.33 mm, respectively which consider a
very small and within the allowable tolerance stated in the standard codes. Thus, the small
dimension difference will not diminish the strength of the brick and will not induce cracks or
case any trouble during construction stage. As a result, the rubberized interlocking brick is
uniform in terms of dimension and appropriate for construction.

Table 4 Dimension test results of rubberized interlocking brick

Measured Dimension Web

Type of Typical Dimension (mm)
(mm) Thickness
brick
(mm)
Length Width Height Length Width Height

Stretcher 249.79 125.6 105.33 250 125 105 32

Figure 5 Dimension details of stretcher rubberized interlocking brick (all dimension in mm)

4.2. Density, net volume and net area results

Table 5 shows the test results of density, net volume and net area of the rubberized
interlocking brick. In accordance to ASTM C90 [22] the loadbearing concrete masonry units
are classified into three different categories based on the oven dry unit weight. These
categories are lightweight, medium weight and normal weight with oven-dry weight of less
than 1680 kg/m3, 1680 kg/m3 to 2000 kg/m3 and 2000 kg/m3 or more, respectively. Thus the
density of the rubberized interlocking brick ranged between 1822.0 kg/m3 to 1940.9 kg/m3
with an average of 1890 kg/m3 which classified as medium weight masonry brick. Ortega et al

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 Physical Properties of the Rubberized Interlocking Masonry Brick

[5] measured a dry density of concrete brick incorporated of 10% crumb rubber and obtained
to be 1930 kg/m3 which is in agreement with the average density of the tested masonry unit
(rubberized interlocking brick). The decrease in the rubberized interlocking brick density is
due to the utilization of crumb rubber which has low specific gravity also, due to the lower
amount of cement and high fly ash content.

Table 5 Density test results of rubberized interlocking brick

Specimen Weight (kg) Net volume (m3) Net area (mm2) Density (kg/m3)
1 5.61 0.002910 27714.3 1928.9
2 5.45 0.002810 26761.9 1940.9
3 5.41 0.002792 26590.5 1937.7
4 5.29 0.002905 27666.7 1822.0
5 5.14 0.002812 26361.9 1827.9
Average 5.38 0.002846 27019.0 1891.5

4.3. Water absorption test results

The water absorption by 24 hours cold immersion method shows lower value which ranges
between 2.93 % to 3.38 % and an average of 3.07 %. However, the water is not saturated
entirely, hence the air in pores is not evacuated from the bricks completely. Furthermore, the
water absorption of rubberized interlocking bricks determined by 5 hours boiling test method
ranged from 9.01 % to 11.43 % and an average of 9.73 %. However, the rubberized
interlocking bricks show lower absorption compared to normal concrete masonry units due to
the hydrophobic behaviour of the crumb rubber. The crumb rubber content influenced the
porosity and hence affecting the water absorption capacity of rubberized interlocking bricks.
Ahmad et al. [23] have investigated the water absorption of interlocking soil-cement by using
24 hours cold immersion method and 5 hours boiling method. 8.5% and 17% water absorption
was recorded for 24 hours cold immersion and 5 hours boiling method, respectively. The
result obtained in this study is consistent with the result obtained by Ahmad et al. [23] where
5 hours boiling method shows lower water absorption compared to 24 hours cold immersion.

5. CONCLUSIONS
The physical characteristic has been investigated to determine the applicability of the
rubberized interlocking bricks as part of structural element. Rubberized interlocking brick
exhibit uniform size and shape which is within the dimension tolerance, thus make it easier to
lay in masonry. Based on the density test, rubberized interlocking brick is also considered as
medium weight concrete. Higher water absorption was observed due to the present of crumb
rubber that trap air around its surface and prevent water.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank Universiti Teknologi Petronas Malaysia for financing the
project under Yayasan UTP with grant code YUTP 0153AA–H30.

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