Clay Bricks

Clay Bricks General: Clay bricks shall be hand or machine moulded, allowance being made for shrinkage in drying and burning. Clay bricks shall be free from cracks and flaws and nodules of free lime. Bricks of 9 cm height shall be moulded with a frog 1 cm or 2 cm deep on one of its flat sides. these bricks are used in general, for different types of building works. Classification of Clay Bricks:

Class I Bricks - They shall have uniform color, shall be thoroughly burnt but not over-burnt, shall have plain rectangular faces with parallel sides and sharp straight edges. They shall have fine, compact and uniform texture, and emit a clear ringing sound when struck against each other. Class II Bricks - They shall have uniform color and may be slightly over-burnt. The bricks may be slightly distorted and have round edges. They shall have fine, compact, uniform texture and emit a clear ringing sound when struck. Class III Bricks - They may be slightly under-burnt or over-burnt. They may be distorted and have round edges. The defects in uniformity and shape shall not be such to cause difficulty in obtaining uniform courses with their use.

Types of Bricks

Some of the different types of bricks is as follows. Clay Bricks - It is like an artificial stone obtained by moulding clay in rectangular blocks of uniform size (19 cm x 9 cm x 9 cm) and then by drying and burning these blocks. Heavy Duty Bricks - These bricks are made by either pressing process or by extrusion process. these bricks are used in heavy construction engineering works such as bridge structure, industrialfoundations, machine foundations, multi-storeyed buildings, etc., Common Burnt Clay Bricks - These bricks shall be hand or machine oulded, allowance being made for shrinkage in drying and burning. These bricks shall be used for common building purposes and should be free from cracks , flaws and nodules of free lime. Hollow Bricks - These are light weight bricks with cavities, made from special homogenous clay. such bricks have wall thickness of about 20 to 25 mm and are used for partition walls. They also provide good insulation against heat, sound and dampness. Perforated Bricks - These bricks are light in weight and contain perforations, may be circular, square, elliptical, rectangular in shape throughout their thickness. These bricks are economical and ofer adequate insulation against heat. These bricks are used for the construction of brick panels for light-weight structures, multistoreyed framed structures, decorative partition walls, grill work, etc., Fire or Refractory Bricks - These are made from fire clay like ordinary clay bricks. These bricks can resist high temperatures and are used for lining of furnaces and construction of boilers, chambers, chimneys, etc., Soda-Lime Bricks - These bricks are prepared by mixing, moulding and treating the four raw materials, i.e., sand, lime, water and pigment. They are either used as ordinary clay bricks in building industry or for ornamental work, being better in appearance.