Abstract
The cartography and characterization of an alluvial clay deposit from Ebebda (Central region of Cameroon) were carried out in order to assess its suitability for the production of fired clay bricks. The clayey area investigated is ~ 50,000 m2 with an average thickness of the exploitable layer of 2.2 m, suggesting a deposit of about ~2.2 × 105 tonnes of clay. Mineralogy, physico-chemical and thermal analyses as well as firing properties were performed on representative clay samples. Kaolinite and quartz are the major minerals associated to illite. Upon heating to 900℃ - 1200℃, the linear shrinkage varies from 1.5% to 15%, the water absorption from 1.5% to 24% and the bending strength from 2 to 12 MPa. The admixture of lateritic clays (widely available) at 50%, 60%, 70% and 80% allow to decrease the shrinkage and bending strength, and to increase the water absorption. Overall, properties were satisfying the requirement for fired brick with 70% of laterite in the mixture.
Highlights
Clays are widely used as raw materials in the field of construction, fine ceramics, pharmaceutical industry, oils decoloration, etc. [1,2]
This study presents field data of Ebebda’s clay deposit along the Sanaga River
The left bank area shows some clay deposits and the profiles are made by five layers (Figure 2): organic soil (0 - 40 cm), fine gray clay mottled with yellow (40 - 130 cm), fine gray clay mottled with red (130 - 180 cm), fine gray clay mottled with light brown (180 - 280 cm) and clayey sand (> 280 cm)
Summary
Clays are widely used as raw materials in the field of construction, fine ceramics, pharmaceutical industry, oils decoloration, etc. [1,2]. Laterite residual soils available in Cameroon on nearly 67% of the national territory have been widely studied. Their composition contains Si, Al and Fe with kandites (kaolinite, halloysite) as the main clays minerals. Goethite and hematite are predominant minerals with rutile and anatase as accessory minerals. All these minerals derive from the weathering of the gneissic basement of the Yaounde’s area [7]. Despite a few report on the valorization of the lateritic clayey soils in low fired brick production (975 ̊C) with no admixture [11], many studies show that the fusibility of these residual
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