The use of sawdust waste on physical properties and thermal conductivity of fired clay brick production

Abstract

In this paper, the effects of incorporation of sawdust waste on the properties of fired clay bricks were investigated. Clay bricks fabricated with 0%, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, and 10% by weight of sawdust waste were tested. The clay brick specimens were firing at 900 °C, 1000 °C, and 1100 °C for study the water absorption, bulk density, apparent porosity, compressive strength, and thermal conductivity of the fired clay bricks. The experimental results found that the using of sawdust waste reduced the bulk density and compressive strength of the specimens. It was observed their apparent porosity ratios up to 30% improved with increasing of sawdust waste up to 10% by weight after firing at 900 °C. The compressive strength of bricks specimen with 2.5% by weight of sawdust waste addition and fired at 1100 °C showed a higher than of value strength as required by ASTM C62-13a. In addition, the thermal conductivity of the porous fired clay bricks specimens with 2.5-10% by weight sawdust waste addition produced at 1000 °C compared to the fired clay brick specimens without additive, decreased from 0.47 to 0.22 W/mK. The results thus showed that sawdust waste was a potential material for use as a pore former additive to raw clay-brick production.