Manufacturing of building bricks without Portland cement

Abstract

European legislation about waste emissions and the need to reduce solid waste volume have caused scientists to invent new construction materials produced using waste materials. In this study, limestone powder, class C fly ash, silica fume and water are used without any other components in masonry brick production. Limestone powder, class C fly ash and silica fume were mixed, humidified, compacted and cured for periods of 7, 28 and 90 days. The compressive and flexural strengths, density, water absorption, porosity and thermal conductivity of the bricks were measured. The compressive and flexural strengths of the samples containing silica fume were found to increase significantly when the silica fume content in the mixtures was increased. At the 20% silica fume content, the compressive strengths of masonry blocks without Portland cement at the 28 and 90 days curing time, were 23 and 26.5 MPa. The estimated production cost of a new masonry brick was 6.4-times cheaper than that of traditional fired clay brick. The preliminary results were encouraging enough that these waste materials were used to produce a composite masonry brick without Portland cement.