Stabilized earth bricks

 They are the environmental friendly unburnt bricks which are made from the clay stabilized
with cement or lime.

 After mixing stabilizing material and clay, it is compressed to make the brick .

 The bricks are cured under polythene sheet in the open air.

 Consuming less energy than fired bricks( about 4 times)

 Less polluting than fired bricks (about 4 times)

Sand lime bricks

These are bricks made from sand and lime as the raw materials instead of clay.

Raw materials of sand-lime bricks: Sand -90% , Lime-(8-12%) and Clay- upto 4%

 Very smooth, uniform finish pleasing appearance.

 Dense, strong and hard.

 Water repelling and free from efflorescence

Fire Bricks or Refractory Bricks

This is a separate group of bricks, which are capable of withstanding very high temperatures without
undergoing any deformation in shape or size and with out reacting with the material of a particular
composition at these temperatures. They are used in making inner walls of furnaces.

Classification : On the basis of their reactively towards melts at higher temperatures:

a) Acidic Bricks: They are resultant to the melts of acidic composition. Example : Fire clay brick,
silica bricks

b) Basic Bricks: They are resultant to the melts of basic composition. Example: Magnesia bricks ,
Bauxite oxide.

c) Natural Bricks: They are non- reactive to both the acidic and basic melts. Example : Chromite
bricks, Chrome -magnesite bricks.

Quality: The fire clay bricks have high resistance to spalling (breaking under heat ),high bearing
capacity and low coefficient of thermal expansion.

Uses: Fire clay are commonly used as lining material in steel making furnaces , glass making furnaces
etc.

Miscellaneous Clay Products

A) Tiles: Tiles are thin slabs of bricks earth, burnt in kiln.

 These are thinner than bricks and have a great tendency to crack and wrap in drying and
burning than ordinary bricks and are more liable to breakage. Therefore ,a great care is
needed in their manufacture. They should be dries in shade, burnt and cooled gradually in
specially made kiln.

 They are used for various purposes such as roofing , flooring partition wall, drains etc.
Manufacturing of tiles

Tiles are made in the same manner as bricks, but are thinner and lighter ,so requires greater care.
These are manufactured from clay moulding with or without mixtures of coloring impurities by
moulding and subsequently burning until baked upto about 13000 c . The clay should be highly plastic
lean admixture and fusing agents to lower the melting point .

Types of tiles

a) Roofing Tiles :

 Roofing tiles must have high resistance to adverse atmospheric temperature effects.

 They are made in different designs to suit the architectural requirements.

 Roofing tiles must be leakage proof, very ductile ,easy to fix, less maintenance cost.

 The color and texture of tiles vary with the characters of clay used and the method adopted
for burning

 They are Classified as flat , interlocking and curved tiles.

b) Flooring tiles

They are used for flooring the surface of floors. These tiles are flat in shape and of rectangular ,square
and other geometric outlines.

Qualities of good flooring tiles:

 They should be hard to resist wear and strong to resist loads.

 They should be well burnt and give ringing sound when struck with each other.

 They should have uniform texture throughout their body .

 They should have no visible foreign materials like pebbles .

c) Wall Tiles: These are specifically designed and manufactured for use on walls. They are
broadly similar to flooring in shape , size and color. In fact, many floor tiles may be
conveniently used on the face work and for ceilings of special architectural designs.
d) Drain tiles: These are manufactured from clay for special purpose of lining of drains. In shape,
they may be circular or semi-circular .Their size is determined by exact purpose for which they
have to be used .Example irrigation drains.
B) Terra –cotta: Terra Cotta literally means burnt clay . It may be defined as a clay product , which is
made by very careful burning.

 Terra cotta invariably requires a more homogeneous and pure type of clay than that is used
for making bricks and tiles.

 Terra cotta is refractory clay used in ornamental parts of building.

 The clay used for its manufacture should be of superior quantity and should have sufficient
iron alkaline matters.

 Terra Cotta is impervious , hard and cheap.

 The product is burn in special kilns.

Properties

 It is light and fire proof.

 It is available in different color.

 It is better insulation against heat and sound.

 It can be cleaned easily.

 It is strong and durable.

 It is not affected by atmospheric agents.

Uses:

 It is used for all ornamental works.

 It is used as building materials in the form of shaped block.

C) Earthenware

 It include all the article (other than bricks and tiles) made from refined type of clay mixed with
other suitable materials like sand , crushed pottery and feldspars . They are burnt at high
temperature and cooled slowly.

Characteristics:

 Soft ,porous and week.

 Glazed earthenware becomes resistant to weathering action. Example : Sanitary ware ,

D) Stoneware

Stoneware are actually clay products that have been made almost perfectly impervious and opaque
by suitable adjustments in their composition and degree of burning . In composition , stoneware are
made from:

a) Refractory clays c) Crushed pottery

b) Feldspars d) Powdered stone

Characteristics:

a) Impervious , opaque and dense.

b) Resistant to the action of acids and other corrosive chemicals.

Uses:

 Sanitary wares (wash basin ,tubs, sinks, drain pipes).

 They are also used for storage of chemicals and food products.
E) Concrete blocks

 They are hollow blocks made from concrete.

 They are walling materials usually used in non load bearing walls , partition walls .

 Size : Usually used in Nepal 125 x 190 x 330 mm.

 It has speedy construction as compared to brick masonry which reduces labor cost by 40%.

Glazing

 Bricks , tiles , earthenware , stoneware ,etc consists some transparent or opaque film over
their surface to protect them from chemical attack and other weathering agencies. Such
process is called glazing . The glaze is glassy coat of thickness about 0.1 to 0.2mm on the
surface of items and then is fused into place by burning at high temperature.

Types of glazing:

a)Transparent Glazing

 Transparent film is formed.

 Salt glazing is most commonly used since this make the items impermeable.

 It consist of Sodium Chloride in the Kiln when burning at peak (12000 c -13000 c).

 The heat of the kiln volatizes the salt , which enters into the pores of burning items and
combines with the silica in clay to make soda silicate.

 That soda silicate so formed combine with alumina , lime and iron in clay to form the
permanent , thin ,transparent and surface coating.

Lead glazing

 Clay items are burned thoroughly and then dipped in a solution of lead oxide and tin oxide.
The particles of lead and tin adhere to the surface of clay items.

 After this, the items are returned in kiln where the particles melt forming a film of glass over
the outer layer.

 This method is used for items of inferior clay which cannot withstand high temperature
required for salt glazing.

Opaque glazing

 It is also called enammelling.

 Borax, kaolin , chalk, coloring matter ,feldspar , oxides of tin , zinc ,lead ,etc are mixed and
ground to fin paste in the presence of water.

 The items to be glazed is dried and then dipped into the slip and then burnt in the furnace at
the temperature of about 1200 c . During this process, the composition gets completely
vitrified (converted to glass or glass like substance while exposing to heat )and forms uniform
glaze of desired color.

 In this process, burning and glazing are done simultaneously.