Abstract
A considerable part of the overburden spoil at the Western open cast working sites of the Tuncbilek Colliery, Western Lignite Corporation, consists of marl series. Some artificial mountains have been formed in the region as the marl series are deposited on the spoil heaps to heights reaching up to 200 m. The work described here aims to decrease the environmental impacts of these colliery wastes by evaluating their potential use as raw materials for the brick industry. Samples obtained from newly excavated colliery sites, as well as spoil heaps that have been deposited for two years, were ground to 44 and 1000 μm grain size, shaped into bricks at three different pre-compression pressures (80, 100 and 130 kg/cm2) and then cured at four different temperatures (900, 950, 1000 and 1050°C). The results of standard brick tests applied to the marl samples show that the best building bricks are manufactured when 1000 μm grain size samples are sintered at 1000°C and at a pre-compression pressure of 130 kg/cm2 with a sintering rate of 2.5°C/min. Owing to weathering conditions, some of the carbonated minerals were washed away from the original structure. The unit volume weight of the bricks made from old marl is approximately 30% lighter than those manufactured from newly excavated samples. The colour of the brick made of washed marl is almost roof tile colour, while the colour of the brick manufactured from newly excavated marl is pale yellow.
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