This study develops a new type of eco-friendly building brick so-called unfired four-hole hollow brick (UFHB) by using a mixture of ordinary Portland cement (OPC), low-calcium fly ash (FA), and different proportions of crushed sand (CS) and river sand (RS). A hydraulic-static pressure was applied to form the brick samples. The effect of various CS-RS blends on the mechanical strength of the UFHB samples was studied. In addition, the numerical method was applied to simulate the heat transfer process through the brick wall. The obtained results show that the UFHB mixture containing a mixture of 10% RS and 90% CS as blended fine aggregate registered the highest strength value in comparison with other UFHB mixtures. Moreover, utilization of the UFHB was highly effective in term of heat insulation as compared to the conventional brick.
Unfired four-hole hollow brick (UFHB) is a type of environmental-friendly brick with low energy consumption. However, the using of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) in UFHB is costly and indirectly affects the environment. This paper focuses on an exploratory study on the use of blended fly ash (FA)-OPC in the production of the UFHB and proposes the application of FA-OPC mixtures as a timely solution for the reduction of OPC in UFHB. The 80×80×180 mm UFHB samples were produced using different proportions of FA and OPC under a constant coupled-static forming pressure. The report exhibited experimental characterizations on physical and mechanical properties of both starting materials and UFHB products. In addition, a scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis was used to evaluate the microstructure of the final UFHB. Test results show that the inclusion of FA in the UFHB mixtures provided positive effects on brick properties. As a result, 10% FA was found as an optimal content, which resulted in the highest brick’s strength, the lowest water absorption rate, and a denser microstructure. Furthermore, properties of all of the UFHB samples produced for this study satisfied the requirements of the National Vietnamese standard for non-bearing building brick.
This research examines the feasibility of using a mixture of cement, fly ash, ground granulated blast-furnace slag, and river sand to manufacture pre-foamed ultra-lightweight composite (PULC). Four PULC specimens were prepared with the substitution of cement by slag at 0, 10, 20, and 30 % by weight. The engineering properties of PULC samples were evaluated through the tests of compressive strength, dry density, water absorption, drying shrinkage, and thermal conductivity. Besides, numerical simulation of heat transfer through the PULC brick wall and the microstructure observation were performed. The performance of PULC mixtures incorporating slag showed higher effectiveness than merely used cement. The substitution of 20 % cement by slag resulted in the highest compressive strength as well as the lowest value of water absorption of the PULC samples. Also, the efficiency of the thermal conductivity was in inverse proportion with the density of PULC specimens and it was right for water absorption and drying shrinkage. Moreover, numerical simulations showed that the temperature distribution values in the wall made by PULC material were smaller than in the wall made by the normal clay brick in the same position. Besides, the microstructure analysis revealed that the existence of slag generated a more dense structure of PULC samples with the addition of calcium-silicate-hydrate (C-S-H) gel, especially for a mix containing 20 % slag. Thus, the results of this study further demonstrated that a 20 % slag was the optimal content for the good engineering properties of the PULC samples.
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