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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................... 2

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION................................................................. 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEWS ................................................... 4

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1 Water absorption test .........................................................................5-6

3.2 Compressive strength of brick test .....................................................7-9

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS, DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Water absorption test .......................................................................... 10

4.2 Compressive strength of brick ............................................................ 11

CONCLUSION........................................................................................... 12

REFERENCES ........................................................................................... 12

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INTRODUCTION
Brick is considered as one of the most important raw material for construction purpose. In
masonry construction, brick is a form of block used to construct walls, pavements, and other
elements. Brick is a term that refers to a block made of dried clay, but it is now often used to
refer to other chemically cured building blocks. Mortar, adhesives, or interlocking may be used
to join bricks together. There are many properties of bricks include shape, size, color, and
density of a brick.

So.for the shape, an ideal brick has a rectangular shape by default. It has sharp and well-defined
edges. The bricks have a normal and even surface. It is Special purpose bricks, on the other
hand, may be cut or manufactured in a variety of shapes. These are usually rectangular shapes
that have been modified.

For the size of bricks, the size of bricks used in building differs from country to country and
even within a country. The suggested standard size of an ideal brick in India is 19 x 9 x 9 cm,
which when combined with the mortar joint results in net dimensions of 20 x 10 x 10 cm. These
measurements have proven to be extremely useful in handling and estimating quantities. A
total of 500 of these bricks will be needed to complete 1 m3 of brick masonry. It's worth noting
that the most widely used bricks in the United Kingdom and the United States have the
following dimensions:

For color, the most popular colour of building bricks belongs to the RED category. It can
range from a dark red to a light red to a buff or purple colour. Over-burned bricks have a very
dark red colour, while under-burned bricks have a yellow colour.

And lastly,for the density of bricks, The density of bricks, or their weight per unit volume, is
largely determined by the type of clay used and the brick moulding process (soft-mud, Stiff-
mud, hard-pressed etc.).

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CHAPTER2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Literature Review (Water absorption Test)

Available in many places in the world and used as a construction material for thousand years,
earthen material can help to tackle the world population construction needs, at an economic
level as well as at an ecological one [1]–[4]. For example, the millions of heritage rammed
earth houses in Europe more than 80 years old, are a huge library of evidences of the built
environment that can help modern designer to draw an architecture able to tackle the XXIth
century’s challenges. However, its use and development is notably constrained by its particular
thermal and mechanical behaviours, which are generally not considered in construction norms
and technical guides. As it has been proven that the moister the material is, the lower is its
compressive strength [5]–[9]. If the water content (weight of water divided by the weight of
dry soil) is too high, it can alter the whole building stability. Therefore, it is critical to assess
how vulnerable a construction with a high water content can be. To do so, it is mandatory to
characterize the capacity of earthen materials to manage liquid water, which is driven by the
intrinsic permeability of the material. 2 Earthen materials are able to hold a large amount of
liquid water, compared to the other construction materials. This is actually the case when the
heritage buildings experience rising damp, where the water from the ground, or accumulated
at its surface, is absorbed by the wall.

Literature Review ( Compressive Strength Test )

Compressive strength test on bricks are carried out to determine the load carrying capacity of
bricks under compression with the help of compression testing machine.

Bricks are generally used for construction of load bearing masonry walls, columns and
footings. These load bearing masonry structures experiences mostly the compressive loads.
Thus, it is important to know the compressive strength of bricks to check for its suitability for
construction. The determination of Compressive Strength Test of Brick is carried out under the
specification of ASTM C67-03.

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1 WATER ABSORPTION

Since bricks are dry and porous, they have the ability to release and absorb moisture from the
weather, mortar, and concrete. The mortar can become brittle and bad if the brick dries out and
retains moisture from the water as it is laid. It fails to form a bond between bricks and mortar
due to a lack of water for the hydraulic reaction of cement in the mortar, resulting in a reduction
in overall construction strength. Furthermore, if the brick absorbs more water than the
prescribed amount, it has a detrimental impact on the brick's strength as well as the structure's
durability. Rainwater would be absorbed by the porous bricks, resulting in dampness in the
wall. Even like concrete, it cannot be grouted. As a result, water absorption is an essential and
useful property of bricks. The water absorption test of bricks is used to determine water
absorption. To assess the percentage of water absorption, the weight of samples was taken
before and after they were submerged in the tank. Only at the curing age of 28 days was this
test performed.

For the methodology of water absorption:

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 1. Dry the specimen in a ventilated oven at a temperature of 105 °C to 115°C till it attains
substantially constant mass.
2. Cool the specimen to room temperature and obtain its weight (M1) specimen too warm
to touch shall not be used for this purpose.
3. Immerse completely dried specimen in clean water at a temperature of 27+2°C for 24
hours.
4. Remove the specimen and wipe out any traces of water with damp cloth and weigh the
specimen after it has been removed from water (M2).

The average of result shall be reported.

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3.2 COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH TEST ON BRICKS

Bricks are mainly used in the construction of wall, floor, cornices, and arches. Brick
chips are also used as a substitute for stone chips in the concrete mix where a stone is not
available or an economic solution is preferred. In all the above-mentioned cases, compression
load governs. Due to this, the compressive strength of bricks is a very important parameter.

It is the most important property of bricks especially when they are used in load-bearing
walls. The compressive strength of a brick depends on the composition of the clay and degree
of burning. It may vary from 35 kg/cm2 to more than 200 kg/cm2 in India. It is specified under
the I.S.S. codes that an ordinary type building brick must possess a minimum compressive
strength of 35 kg/cm2 .

The compressive strength test is also known as the crushing test which iis the important
type of laboratory test that have conducted on bricks to determine the load carrying capacity of
bricks.

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APPARATUS
1) Compression Testing Machine(CTM)

Compression testing machine use of compress of any material.

2) Scale

The scale used in this test for length, birth & depth of brick.

3) Wooden Plate

This material used for one between brick both side. Because of the edge of a brick safe in CTM
(Compression testing machine)

PROCEDURES

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 Take three random bricks samples and immerse them in water at room temperature for
24 hours (1 day). After 24 hours, take them out, allow them to drain and then clean the surplus
water. Now, fill their frogs (and any other voids) by a layer of standard 1:1 mortar. (1 part
cement and 1 part sand). Store these bricks under damp sacks for 24 hours (to allow setting of
mortar). Place the bricks in water for seven days. (This is to allow the mortar to harden). Take
the bricks out of the water, allow the water to drain and remove the surplus water.

When surface dry, each brick is tested for compressive strength individually. Place the
brick flat-wise, with frog end facing upward, between two plywood sheets. Brick so adjusted
between the plywood sheets is placed on the bed of compressive strength of bricks testing
machine and load is applied axially and at a uniform rate of 140 kg/cm2/minute. (This is very
important). The arithmetic mean of the compressive strength of bricks values of all the five
bricks shall be taken as the compressive strength of that lot of bricks represented by the test
samples, (and not for all the bricks of a kiln). The brick shall be classified accordingly on the
basis of the (Co) obtained as above.

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CHAPTER 4: RESULTS,DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 WATER ABSOPRTION

4.1.2 Water Absorption Test

Amount of water
Mass dry Mass wet brick Absorption
Brick No. absorbed
brick (g) (g) (%)
(g)
1 2.51 2.83 0.32 12.75
2 2.52 2.92 0.40 13.70
3 2.61 2.66 0.05 1.92
4 2.53 2.72 0.19 7.51
5 2.49 2.61 0.12 4.82

Calculation (Based on brick no 1)

Amount of water absorbed (g) = Mass wet brick – mass dry brick

= (2.83 – 2.51) g

= 0.32 g

𝐴𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑏𝑒𝑑

0.32
= 2.51 × 100

= 12.75 %

13.50+12.85+12.50+10.98+14.96
Average water absorption (%) =
5

= 12.96 %

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 4.2 COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF BRICK

COMPRESSION TEST

Cube Cube area (m2) Mass (kg) Mass load (kN) Compressive
strength (kN/m2)
1 22.5 7.55 524.9 23.33
2 22.5 7.79 509.9 22.66

Cube 1
524.9
= 23.33 𝑘𝑁/𝑚2
22.5
Cube 2
509.9
= 22.66 𝑘𝑁/𝑚2
22.5
Average
23.33 + 22.66
= 22.49 𝑘𝑁/𝑚2 ≈ 23𝑘𝑁/𝑚2
2

Discussion

Water-cement ratio: additional water must be added to make the mix workable enough to be placed
inside the forms. However, this additional water should be kept to a minimum. The use of too much
of water will weaken the strength of the concrete.

Compaction factor: the reason for compaction is to ensure the requirement of strength,
permeability and durability of harden concrete. The process of compaction consists of elimination of
entrapped air and forcing the particles into a close configuration.

Conclusion

The compressive strength of the concrete cubes also depends on water-cement ratio and
compaction factor

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CONCLUSION

In conclusion from our experiments, it shows that the workability of the designed mix depends
mainly on the water-cement ration. The slump test showed unfavorable workability. The
reasons is most probably because of the wet sand used in the design mix, hence excessive water
proportion. The compressive strength of the concrete cubes also depends on water-cement ratio
and compaction factor.

REFERENCES

1. https://theconstructor.org/building/types-of-bricks-identification-
properties-uses/12730/
2. https://civilseek.com/properties-of-bricks/
3. https://civileblog.com/bricks/
4. Ling I H and Teo D C L 2011 Properties of EPS RHA lightweight concrete
bricks under different curing conditions Construction and Building
Materials 25(8) 3648-3655

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