BT-204: Basic Civil Engineering

UNIT-01
Topic- Bricks

Introduction:
Brick is obtained by moulding good clay into a block, which is dried and then burnt. This is the oldest building
block to replace stone. Manufacture of brick started with hand moulding, sun drying and burning in clamps. A
considerable amount of technological development has taken place with better knowledge about to properties of raw
materials, better machinaries and improved techniques of moulding drying and burning.

Constituents of good brick earth:

Bricks are the most commonly used construction material. Bricks are prepared by moulding clay in rectangular
blocks of uniform size and then drying and burning these blocks. In order to get a good quality brick, the brick earth
should contain the following constituents.

Silica
o Brick earth should contain about 50 to % of silica.
o It is responsible for preventing cracking, shrinking and warping of raw bricks.
o It also affects the durability of bricks.
o If present in excess, then it destroys the cohesion between particles and the brick becomes brittle.

Alumina
o Good brick earth should contain about 20% to 30% of alumina.
o It is responsible for plasticity characteristic of earth, which is important in moulding operation.
o If present in excess, then the raw brick shrink and warp during drying.

Lime
o The percentage of lime should be in the range of 5% to 10% in a good brick earth.
o It prevents shrinkage of bricks on drying.
o It causes silica in clay to melt on burning and thus helps to bind it.
o Excess of lime causes the brick to melt and brick looses its shape.

Iron oxide
o A good brick earth should contain about 5% to 7% of iron oxide.
o It gives red colour to the bricks.
o It improves impermeability and durability.
o It gives strength and hardness. o If present in excess, then the colour of brick becomes dark blue or blakish.
o If the quantity of iron oxide is comparatively less, the brick becomes yellowish in colour.

Magnesia
o Good brick earth should contain less a small quantity of magnesia about1%
o Magnesium in brick earth imparts yellow tint to the brick.
o It is responsible for reducing shrinkage
o Excess of magnesia leads to the decay of bricks.

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Manufacturing of bricks
In the process of manufacturing bricks, the following distinct operations are involved.
• Preparation of clay
• Unsoiling • Digging • Cleaning • Weathering • Blending • Tempering

• Moulding
• Hand moulding • Machine moulding

• Drying
The damp bricks, if brunt,are likely to be cracked and distorted. Hence the moulded bricks are dried before they are
taken for the next operation of burning. For the drying the bricks are laid longitudinally in the stacks of width equal
to two bricks. A stack consists of ten or eight tiers. The bricks are laid along and across the stock in alternate layers.
All the bricks are placed on edges. The bricks are allowed to dry until the bricks are become leather hard of moisture
content about 2%.

• Burning
Bricks are burned at high temperature to gain the strength, durability, density and red color appearance.All the water
is removed at the temperature of 650 degrees but they are burnt at an temperature of about 1100 degrees because the
fusing of sand and lime takes place at this temperature and chemical bonding takes between these materials after the
temperature is cooled down resulting in the hard and dense mass. Bricks are not burnt above this temperature
because it will result in the melting of the bricks and will result in a distorted shape and a very hard mass when
cooled which will not be workable while brickwork.
Bricks can be burnt using the following methods: (a) Clamp Burning (b) Kiln Burning

Classification of Bricks:
The bricks used in construction are classified as:
(i) First class bricks
(ii) Second class bricks
(iii) Third class bricks and
(iv) Fourth class bricks

(i) First Class Bricks: These bricks are of standard shape and size. They are burnt in kilns. They fulfill all desirable
properties of bricks.
(ii) Second Class Bricks: These bricks are ground moulded and burnt in kilns. The edges may not be sharp and
uniform. The surface may be somewhat rough. Such bricks are commonly used for the construction of walls which
are going to be plastered.
(iii) Third Class Bricks: These bricks are ground moulded and burnt in clamps. Their edges are somewhat distorted.
They produce dull sound when struck together. They are used for temporary and unimportant structures.
(iv) Fourth Class Bricks: These are the over burnt bricks. They are dark in colour. The shape is irregular. They are
used as aggregates for concrete in foundations, floors and roads.

Properties of Bricks:
The following are the required properties of good bricks:
(i) Colour: Colour should be uniform and bright.
(ii) Shape: Bricks should have plane faces. They should have sharp and true right angled corners.
(iii) Size: Bricks should be of standard sizes as prescribed by codes.

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(iv) Texture: They should possess fine, dense and uniform texture. They should not possess fissures, cavities, loose
grit and unburnt lime.
(v) Soundness: When struck with hammer or with another brick, it should produce metallic sound.
(vi) Hardness: Finger scratching should not produce any impression on the brick.
(vii) Strength: Crushing strength of brick should not be less than 3.5 N/mm2. A field test for strength is that when
dropped from a height of 0.9 m to 1.0 mm on a hard ground, the brick should not break into pieces.
(viii) Water Absorption: After immercing the brick in water for 24 hours, water absorption should not be more than
20 per cent by weight. For class-I works this limit is 15 per cent.
(ix) Efflorescence: Bricks should not show white patches when soaked in water for 24 hours and then allowed to dry
in shade. White patches are due to the presence of sulphate of calcium, magnesium and potassium. They keep the
masonry permanently in damp and wet conditions.
(x) Thermal Conductivity: Bricks should have low thermal conductivity, so that buildings built with them are cool
in summer and warm in winter.
(xi) Sound Insulation: Heavier bricks are poor insulators of sound while light weight and hollow bricks provide
good sound insulation.
(xii) Fire Resistance: Fire resistance of bricks is usually good. In fact bricks are used to encase steel columns to
protect them from fire.

Tests on Bricks
Tests on bricks can be categorized as
(1) Field Tests – tests which are performed on bricks at the site such as shape, size , colour test, hardness test,
strength test, soundness test.
(2) Laboratory Tests – tests on bricks which are performed in lab such as Compressive Strength test, Water
Absorption test, Efflorescence test
Compressive strength test: This test is done to know the compressive strength of brick. It is also called crushing
strength of brick. Generally 5 specimens of bricks are taken to laboratory for testing and tested one by one. In this
test a brick specimen is put on crushing machine and applied pressure till it breaks. The ultimate pressure at which
brick is crushed is taken into account. All five brick specimens are tested one by one and average result is taken as
brick’s compressive/crushing strength.

Water Absorption test: In this test bricks are weighed in dry condition and let them immersed in fresh water for 24
hours. After 24 hours of immersion those are taken out from water and wipe out with cloth. Then brick is weighed in
wet condition. The difference between weights is the water absorbed by brick. The percentage of water absorption is
then calculated.The less water absorbed by brick the greater its quality. Good quality brickdoesn’t absorb more than
20% water of its own weight.

Efflorescence test: The presence of alkalies in bricks is harmful and they form a grey or white layer on brick
surface by absorbing moisture. To find out the presence of alkalis in bricks this test is performed. In this test a brick
is immersed in fresh water for 24 hours and then it’s taken out from water and allowed to dry in shade.If the whitish
layer is not visible on surface it proofs that absence of alkalis in brick. If the whitish layer visible about 10% of brick
surface then the presence of alkalis is in acceptable range. If that is about 50% of surface then it is moderate. If the
alkalies’ presence is over 50% then the brick is severely affected by alkalies.

Hardness test: In this test a scratch is made on brick surface with a hard thing. If that doesn’t left any impression on
brick then that is good quality brick.

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Size, shape and colour test: In this test randomly collected 20 bricks are staked along lengthwise, width wise and
height wise and then those are measured to know the variation of sizes as per standard. Bricks are closely viewed to
check if its edges are sharp and straight and uniform in shape. A good quality brick should have bright and uniform
colour throughout.

Soundness test: In this test two bricks are held by both hands and struck with one another. If the bricks give clear
metallic ringing sound and don’t break then those are good quality bricks.

Strength test: In this test brick is made to fall from a height of 90 cm to 100cm (i.e. about 1m) on the ground. The
brick should not break or fall, if it is good quality brick.

Structure test: In this test a brick is broken or a broken brick is collected and closely observed. If there are any
flows, cracks or holes present on that broken face then that isn’t good quality brick.

Uses of Bricks:
Bricks are used in the following civil works:

(i) As building blocks.

(ii) For lining of ovens, furnaces and chimneys.
(iii) For protecting steel columns from fire.
(iv) As aggregates in providing water proofing to R.C.C. roofs.
(v) For pavers for footpaths and cycle tracks.
(vi) For lining sewer lines
(vii) Construction of walls of any size
(viii) Construction of floors
(ix) Construction of arches and cornices
(x) Construction of brick retaining wall
(xi) Manufacture of surki (powdered bricks) to be used in lime plaster and lime concrete

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