A case study on mineralogy and physico-mechanical properties of commercial bricks produced in Nepal
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A case study on mineralogy and physico‑mechanical properties of commercial bricks produced in Nepal Yagya Prasad Chapagain1 · Sanjeev Sapkota1 · Dol Bahadur Ghale1 · Narendra Bahadur Bohara1 · Nirjan Duwal2 · Jagadeesh Bhattarai1 Received: 19 June 2020 / Accepted: 16 September 2020 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract Uses of clay brick have practiced since ancient times in the Kathmandu valley of Nepal as structural materials for the construction of historical monuments, temples, and even modern buildings so on. However, their durability and sustainability properties are less studied scientifically in Nepal. Taking into consideration, analysis of mineralogical phases and physico-mechanical properties of modern clay bricks of Nepal was carried out using X-ray powder diffraction as well as Fourier transform infra-red techniques, and American Standards for Testing Materials standards, respectively. Quartz, feldspars, alumina-rich spinel, muscovite, primary mullite, and hematite are constituent in the bricks. Appearance of the spinel and primary mullite phases in burnt brick samples with diminishing feldspar peaks were to be different, indicating that the temperature applied for the making of these clay bricks presumed to be between 900 and 1050 °C. All the commercially used contemporary brick samples analyzed herein could be of II and III classes based on the estimated physical and mechanical properties. They showed the water absorption capacity ( WAC), apparent porosity (PA), bulk density (DB), and compressive strength ( SC) in the range of 5–30%, 10–40%, 1.1–2.15 g/cm3, and 3.35–10.53 MPa, respectively, and these properties have a reasonable correlation. The S C is to be decreased exponentially with increasing both the WAC and PA and increased exponentially with DB. Keywords Bricks · Mineralogical composition · Durability · Water absorptivity · Density · Compressive strength
1 Introduction In the modern era, clay bricks widely use as one of the structural materials and it used since the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Roman periods [1], existing as archaeological structural elements. The extensive uses of the contemporary bricks are mainly due to the availability of its raw clay materials world widely. What is more, the quality and durability assessments of different clay bricks principally based on their essential mineralogical phase, physico-sintering, and mechanical properties. It said that the best quality of the ceramic bodies also depends on the uses of clay types [2–4], and firing temperature [5–8] and
conditions [9, 10] during their production time because these parameters are critical factors to modulate different physico-mechanical properties of the ceramic bodies. A series of mineralogical phase transformation occurs during the firing of natural clay materials [11, 12]. The Al2O3 and SiO2, which vary with clay types, are responsible for the refractoriness, shrinkage, and plasticity properties of clay bricks [13] The main mineralogical compositions of Al2O3 and SiO2, which vary with
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