Study on the physical and mechanical properties of low energy consumption fired industrial waste clay bricks from eggshells and rice husks

Abstract

In this study, the sustainable fired clay bricks were fabricated by the incorporation of agricultural waste such as rice husk ash (RHA) and eggshell (ES) into the clay soil (CS), with the empirical formula of [(CS)0.5(RHA)0.5]1-y[ES]y. The substitution of waste materials is purposely to reduce the usage of non-renewable source of CS and for the foaming agent in brick-making process. Different concentration of ES was added into the CS-based bricks and followed by sintering process where the physical and mechanical properties were investigated afterward. The addition of ES was variably decreased the water absorption, increased the mass loss of the CS-based bricks, and dramatically reduced the durability from the impacted mechanical force onto the bricks at certain amount of ES. From all concentration, 5 wt% of ES was having the optimum performance by having the lowest water absorption and highest durability from external mechanical force imparted onto the CS-based bricks.