Brick Making Machine
Brick Making Machine
Brick Making Machine
The provision of shelter is one the most basic demand of a Man all over the World. It is
one the most important challenges a man faces in his life. The problem of good shelter varies
from place to place. A good shelter provides, first and foremost Security and Privacy. One of the
most important materials used for building of a shelter is block/brick, but majority of the people
cannot afford these materials (blocks or bricks) due high cost. Therefore, the production of high
quality and affordable blocks/bricks is paramount to solving housing problems in developing
countries. Thus, this project focused on fabrication of a multipurpose machine that produces high
quality blocks/bricks for low cost housing. That is, for low income communities/earners. In other
words, bricks or blocks produced by using this machine are relatively cheap and affordable for
those in the rural areas and for low income earners.
The machine parts were made of mild steel, because of its availability and versatile
machinability. The efficiency of the machine was examined using local clay. Water was added to
the clay after sieving to form a paste, and then packed into a mould box, before manually
rammed and compacted with the machine mould cover. This process allowed for the formation
of required shape. The machine is capable of producing one bricks at a time using the available
mould box.
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Building construction has become complex and sophisticated nowadays. Early types of
construction provided minimal shelter from wind, fire attack and rain. Modern day housing
provides not just only shelter but a total internal environment where every aspect of security,
climate and lightning can be under finger-tip control. With this development, there is continuous
demand for improved, more efficient and economical as well as environmental friendly
construction materials such as baked clay bricks.
Bricks can be made of clay or a mixture of sand and cement, but the latter is widely used
for building houses. However, modern construction work, such as structural design and
construction, building, architectural design and some other industrial applications, requires
proper selection of materials. Hence, modern brickwork represents a highly complex undertaking
planned down to the last detail and completely rationalized in operation. This means that before
the realization of such project, careful planning is required to ensure profitability, proper
materials selection and operational efficiency in order to minimize investment risk.
As shown in Figure. 1.1, clay bricks may be arranged instacks in a building wall. They stand
better test of time and require even lesser amount of concrete mix than the conventional blocks.
They also require no plastering when used in buildings.
Therefore, first and foremost, there is need to develop a machine that will be relatively
in-expensive, easy to be maintained, easy to operate and, most importantly, has a good quality
control mechanism (such as compaction pressure control). Secondly, although the basic principle
of block/brick making whether concrete or earthen is the same, no commercially available
machines, that produces both concrete block as well as compress earth bricks. Thus, this research
seeks to address the aforementioned challenges.
1.2 Shapes and Sizes
A variety of interlocking blocks have been developed during the past years, differing in
shapes and sizes, depending on the required strengths and uses. The system developed has the
following shapes and forms:
(i) Full blocks (300 x 125 – 150 x 100 mm) for all standard walls (single or double block thick).
(ii) Half blocks (150 x 125 - 150 x 100 mm), which can be moulded to size, or made by cutting
freshly moulded full blocks in half.
(iii) Channel blocks, same sizes as full and half blocks, but with a channel along the long axis,
into which reinforcing steel and concrete can be placed to form lintels or ring beams.
(iv) The vertical sides of the blocks can be flat or have recesses, and the vertical grout holes can
be square or round.
(v) Inserts for electrical switch housing and conduits as well as water piping outlets can be
incorporated.
(vi) Special blocks for window sills.
1.3 Soil
Soil is a natural aggregate of mineral particles, sometimes including organic constituents;
it has solid, liquid and gaseous phases. Soil itself is defined as uncemented aggregates of
minerals grains and decayed organic matter with liquid and gaseous occupying the void spaces
between the solid particles. Soil is used as uncemented materials in various civil engineering
projects and it support the foundation of structures. Soil has been used for building in a great
variety of ways, which vary according to climate and type of soil available.
The properties and use of soil as a building material must therefore be studied by anyone
concerned with building materials. In recent times, the potential of soil as a building material has
been considerably underestimated. There seems to be two main reasons for this. Firstly, the
enormous variety of naturally occurring soils has made specification for any particular set of
property difficult, and engineers have therefore tend to prefer the more predictable manufactured
materials; secondly, many soils in their untreated states lack strength and dimensional stability,
this has led to the believe that soil is a generally inferior material of short life and requiring high
maintenance. The development of science of soil mechanics and other related testing and
classification of soil types has made possible the selection and specification of soil for building
purposes with some precision; and the techniques of stabilization, first developed for use in
roads, airfields and dams, can now be used to convert soil into a building material whose
properties are entirely adequate for most building purposes, and are often fully comparable with
other available building materials. If soil is to be used successfully, it is important, as with other
building materials, that its engineering properties should be clearly understood. These derived
from the origin and condition of formation of soils.
The soils formed by weathered product at the place of origin are called residual soils. An
important characteristics of residual soils is the presence of fine grain soil at the surface, grain
sizes increases with depth down to the bedrock. At larger depth angular rock may be formed.
Laterites are formed by chemical weathering under warm, humid tropical condition when rain
water leaches out the soluble rock materials leaving behind the insoluble hydroxide and
magnesium given the characteristic reddish brown or dark brown colour. The lateritic
interlocking block was made from lateritic-clay and not lateritic-gravel.
Cement: Cement has the property of setting and solidifying upon mixture with water. Cements
are widely used in construction firms in design of structures, and having varieties, with Portland
cement as the most common type of cement in general usage. It is a basic component of
concrete, block, mortar or plaster. Cement consists of a mixture of oxide of calcium silicon and
aluminium. Portland cement is made by heating limestone (a source of calcium) with clay and
grinding this product (called clinker) with a source of sulphate most commonly called gypsum
(Niel Jackson and Ravindra K. Dhir).
Water: Water combines with cement and aggregates to begin the process of hydration, and
adequate water-cement ratio provides good consistency. The cement paste glues the aggregate
together, fills voids within it and allows it to flow more easily. The use of clean pure water is
always recommended for use in block production to prevent adverse harmful effect of salt,
turbidity and other impurities. Impure water used to make block can cause problem when setting
or in causing premature failure of interlocking block walls.
Aggregates: Fine and coarse aggregates made up the bulk of interlocking block mixture. Various
types were explained above under ‗properties and types of soil‘. It can occur naturally or made
artificially in industries (uncrushed or crushed). The size of aggregate affects the strength and
load bearing capacity of interlocking block.
1.5 Block Strength
The compressive strength of compressed stabilized soil blocks (CSSB) depends on the
soil type, type and amount of stabilizer and the compaction pressure used to form the block. The
maximum compressive strengths of the block are obtained by proper mixing of suitable materials
and proper compacting and curing. Thorough mix is essential in the production of uniformly
high quality block. Therefore, equipments and methods adopted should be capable of effective
mixture. However, hand mixing is likely to produce a block with lower strength than machine
mixed block of similar proportions.
The ring beam below window level, at lintel and below roof level is necessarily
constructed to enhance bonding of the assembled blocks. This can be achieved by the aid of
channel blocks placed around the building at positions where the ring beams are required for the
installation of ring beam, which enhance bonding of the assembled blocks. Interlocking blocks
are ideally suited for load-bearing wall constructions, even for two or more storey buildings.
(i) A standard skilled masonry labour is required to ensure proper horizontal and
vertical alignment of the blocks, and that the corner and junction (T-joints) are
right angled, especially at the base course
(ii) Due to wind and rain seepage effect the block wall need be rendered
(iii) The mould, palettes groove or/and protrusion edge may affect the dimension of
the block; consequently hamper the alignment and stability of the wall, if not
adequately observed
(iv) It is difficult to maintain the required tight tolerances for accurate construction
of large walls or other structures through the moulding and cutting steps.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Ismail (2007) investigated the potential utilization of organic residues in clay bricks as sawdust,
tobacco residues and grass were mixed with clay at (0,2.5, 5, and 10) percent by weight.
Effects on shaping, plasticity, density, and mechanical properties were investigated. It was
observed that the fibrous nature of the residues did not create extrusion problems.
However, higher residue addition required a higher water content to ensure the right plasticity.
The organic residue can be utilized in an environmentally safe way as organic pore
-forming agents in brick clay.
Pitroda et al., (2013) analysed that, as the percentage of the glass fibre in brick increased the
compressive strength of the brick is also increased. In this experimental work 1% fibre addition
gives the maximum strength 5.86 N/mm2and water absorption 12.32%. He also recommends
that use of glass fibre increase the strength but at same time the cost is also increased.
Madurwar et al., (2014) studied the application of bio fuel by- product sugarcane bagasse ash
(SBA) as a principal raw material for the manufacturing of bricks was studied. The bricks were
developed using the quarry dust (QD) as a replacement to natural river sand and lime (L) as a
binder. The bricks with 20% addition of lime to SBA and quarry dust exhibited a compressive
strength of up to 6.59 MPa, which is almost double that of the conventional clay bricks (3.5
MPa). The optimum composition of SBA–QD–L brick is 15% and 25% lighter than the
commercially available burnt clay and fly ash–cement bricks respectively.
Niklesh et al (2017) studied that the commercial production of bricks from waste materials is
still very limited sot the possible reasons are related to the methods for producing bricks from
waste materials, the potential contamination from the waste materials used, absence of relevant
standards, improper guidance, lack of awareness, and the slow acceptance of waste materials-
based bricks by industry and public. For wide production and application of bricks from waste
materials, further research and development is needed, not only on the technical, economic and
environmental aspects but also on standardization, government policy and public education
related to waste recycling and sustainable development.
Indian Brick industry, the second largest producer of bricks in the world, is next to China
and commands 60.45% share in the net domestic product of the country, but is “clearly” away
from the ambit of state regulation and protection (Daniel.2009). Such informal, small-scale, often
unlicensed (unregistered) and unregulated brick kiln industries are running as unorganized
sector. (Daniel 2009, Maithel et.al2010).The industry has an annual turnover of more than Rs140
million, with an estimated coal consumption of around 25 million tons per year, as the third
largest consumer of coal after thermal power and steel sector of the country(Gupta and
Narayan2010).Indian brick industry, the second largest producer of bricks, run as a small sector
with more than 150,000 brick fields throughout the country, each unit manufacture on an average
between 10-100 million bricks per year.
Brick is the back-bone of construction activity In India, The Gangetic plain of north India
accounts for 65% of the total brick production. Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and west
Bangle are the major brick producing states in this region. Gujarat, Maharastra,
Orissa.Tamilnadu, Madhya Pradesh are the important brick producing states in the Peninsular
Plateau and coastal area of India (Gupta and Narayan2010). Bricks are prepared, processed and
baked in kiln at the cottage, village and rural enterprise level. Being situated in the remote
country side, the brick kiln industry portrays a unique model of industrial relations-
“Tripartism”(Iqbal2006).Brick making is a low technology industry which is characterized by
distinct division of labor, employing skilled and semi-skilled labor comprising men, women and
children during agricultural off season. The bricks are hand molded, sun dried and then fired in a
pit or clamp kiln. Complete mechanization in production is yet to be taken place in
India. In between the simple and the advanced methods of making bricks i.e. an 5
intermediate technology is most commonly used. Brick kiln industry is the second largest sector
after the construction sector with floating labor population; these workers are mostly seasonal
migrants. They belong to the poorest and weakest sections of the rural society and they migrate
to brick kiln industry in search of employment during the lean period of agriculture (Gupta
2003).
Migrant brick kiln workers belonged to low caste and tribal communities and migrate
with their family. The entire family lives on the site and work on one unit. (Kainth2009).Migrant
brick kiln workers who are semi skilled workers, are one of the most exploited, un-organized and
un-regulated labor force (Daniel2009).In the brick sector, labour is brought in through a
contractor a from distance place. Since, they are not regular labour and not directly appointed by
the owner, they are not covered under the current Labour Laws, like minimum wage act.
Once you have established where you are going to make your bricks, it is a good idea to set up
your production site in such a way as to have a free flowing production line in order to minimize
labour, time and cost.
It is a good idea to have your machine and mixing area all under some shade. We also want our
water supply at our place of mixing and curing – either by tap or water tank.
2. SOIL TYPE
When looking for the right soil type, we should use soil from the subsoil, so as to avoid any
organic matter. The best soil type is sandy loam (more sand than clay). Our optimum ration is
70% sand to 30% clay silt content. The reason for this is too much sand causes difficulties in
handling, and too much clay causes the brick to shrink and in doing so they crack. If your soil
has too much clay we can add sand to get the right ration.