Raw materials requirement is foremost necessary in construction sector. Due to the increase in construction activities, the raw material utilization is also increased, which may lead to depletion of the resources. The usage of M sand also increases day by day. On the other side, waste disposal is posing a major threat to environment and human health. This paper shows the investigation carried out in manufacturing fly ash bricks made by utilizing vermicompost as an alternative material for M sand, the physical and chemical properties of M sand and vermicompost are studied and they seem to be the same. In this study, an attempt is made to check the feasibility of replacement of vermicompost for M sand in brick making. The brick specimens are casted as per the mix proportions and they are tested for strength and durability at the age of 28 days. It has been identified that the vermicompost replacement at 5% and 10%, the compressive strength of the brick is 7.90 and 7.31% respectively, which is found to be nearer to the strength of the control specimen and the water absorption for all the mixes of the brick casted were below 20% as per IS code. Inclusion of vermicompost in the fly ash bricks will tend to reduce the use of M sand.
Rapid urbanization leads to diminishing of natural resources that are used in the construction activity thus creating threat to the environment and the society. If this situation exists, it will pose a severe threat to environment in future. Therefore, some alternate measures have to be taken in order to handle this issue. This study is focused on utilizing Vermicompost as a substitute material for Red soil in the manufacturing of bricks. The characteristic test and microstructural tests are carried out for the materials constituting the brick. The physical properties are tested by specific gravity and particle size analysis. In addition to this the microstructural studies of the brick making material and Vermicompost are done by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy Dispersive Infrared Spectrometer (EDAX) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). The results of SEM show that the particles of Vermicompost is less porous and has lesser water absorption than that of red soil. From the XRD results it is evident that the elements obtained for the peak values of Red soil and Vermicompost are nearly same and also these elements are responsible for the good quality of bricks. It has been noted that the physical and chemical properties of the Vermicompost match with that of the Red soil indicating that it can be used as a replacement for Red soil. The manufactured bricks will be cost effective as well as sustainable solution in construction sector.
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