To Study the Strength Characteristics of Bricks Made with Fly Ash

Abstract

The conventional bricks are generally made up of clay as its principal constituent. The urbanization and industrialization lead to the use of conventional bricks at a very high rate. Moreover, the rapid increase in population and to meet its needs, new houses, and high-rise buildings are constructed in large numbers, which requires a large number of bricks for its construction. To decrease the extensive use of the clay and finding its substitute is the need of the hour. In the present study, the Fly Ash is used as the substitute of clay and fly ash bricks were made by using fly ash, sand, lime, and Plaster of Paris (POP) in different mix proportions. The fly ash brick specimens of size 230 × 110 × 70 mm were manufactured and various quality parameters like compressive strength at an age of 7 and 28 days, water absorption and dry density were tested. The economical mix design of the fly ash bricks for maximum compressive strength and its rate analysis was also done. It was observed from the results that the compressive strength decreases with increase in fly ash content and increases with an increase in sand and lime content in fly ash bricks. Water absorption value increases with an increase in fly ash content and decreases with increase sand and lime content in fly ash bricks.