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Production of Bricks for Building Construction and Predictability of Its Post-Fired Volume Shrinkage Based on Apparent Porosity and Water Absorption Capacity

Abstract

The high demand for durable building materials has led to the growing rate of production and application of bricks. Successful predictability of Post-Fired Volume Shrinkage (PFVS) was carried out based on its apparent porosity and water absorption capacity (WAC). The bricks were produced from clay which was prepared and processed, following a well detailed step-wise route. Prediction of the PFVS was carried out using a two-factorial empirical model expressed as; ϑ = - 0.3988 ₰ – 0.3789 ξ + 39.256 The validity of the derived model was rooted in the core expression ϑ - 39.256 = - 0.3988 ₰ - 0.3789 ξ where both side of the expression correspondingly approximately equal. Results from both experiment and model prediction shows that decrease in PFVS resulted to increase in apparent porosity and WAC. This implied that the inter-particle spacing increased (with decreasing PFVS) to allow increased water absorption as result of increased apparent porosity. Results from evaluations indicated that the standard error incurred in predicting PFVS for each value of the WAC & apparent porosity considered, as obtained from experiment, derived model and regression model were 0.0842, 0.0010 and 0.0033 & 0.0834, 0.0011 and 4.2286 x 10-5 % respectively. Furthermore the correlation between PFVS and WAC & apparent porosity as obtained from experiment, derived model and regression model were all > 0.97. The maximum deviation of the model-predicted water absorption (from experimental results) was less than 5.57%. This translated into over 94% operational confidence for the derived model as well as over 0.94 effective response coefficients of WAC and apparent porosity to PFVS of the bricks

CI Nwoye, EO Obidiegwu, and CN Mbah

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