Kathy Chase- Jones on tue 5 oct 04
Hi- A co-worker who happens to be a mason posed a question to me that I
couldn't answer. I hope one of you can help.Where can a fired brick be sent
to get a basic idea of the ingredients? His complaint was the brick quality
has gone down , while the prices are continuing to rise. I believe he wants
to manufacture his own bricks.Any suggestions will be appreciated!
Thanks-Kathy Chase-Jones
mailtoandrew@FSMAIL.NET on wed 6 oct 04
Hi,
You could try
http://www.ceram.com/testing/building-materials.htm
Regards,
Andrew
Ivor and Olive Lewis on wed 6 oct 04
Dear Kathy Chase- Jones,
I would suggest that your first port of call if you are in the USA is
the American Ceramics Society. They should be able to provide you with
details of National Standards for Engineering Bricks, that is Load
Bearing Bricks.
Prices continue to rise because the cost of Energy is increasing.
Price of Petroleum fuels has increased by almost 100% in the last
twelve months. A lot of bricks are fired with Oil. Price of Nat Gas
has increased by about a third. West Texas Crude is at an all time
high of $US 52.00/barrel.
IF your friend can turn out bricks at the rate of about one a second
or faster he might be able to make it pay. You should go to a brick
factory and watch the operation. They extrude clay to profile and cut
the Pug into portions with a moving "Harp". Most of the work is
automated.
Another thought, Are the bricks causing this concern imported or made
locally?
Best regards.
Ivor Lewis.
Redhill,
S. Australia.
steve baker on thu 7 oct 04
A fired brick cannot readily be analyzed to determine its source. The technology that is out there will give you a composite chemistry (alumina, iron, etc.) and a qualitative analysis of the mineral components (types of silica, glassy phases, mullites. etc) - but really nothing quantitative. Because of their weight, bricks don't usually travel too far from their source unless it is something special or exotic. And generally a good brick manufacturer can make a good brick out of most any semiplastic material. The problem that exists today is the desire to fire fast. A brick that is weak when fired could be the result of several things. The first sucspicion is that it is underfired, but such a brick is usually oversized as well. Second culprit could be siliceous raw materials, that simply expand and tear the brick apart. The next culprit may be an under tempered or underwetted brick, that was never stuck together very well to start with. Next let's suggest a brick made under
low vaccuum pressure. Or even a brick that was dried safely but too fast to allow the body to close up. One problem with modern kilns is that the dryer and kiln are inline, and dried brick are never actually seen. If a brick has any of the problems described above outside of the first, then the dried brick would be inferior and weak. I will say that most modern brickyards cannot really tolerate any of the described problems above for very long, and though they may manifest themselves over short periods of time, never for very long or the brick yard is in trouble. It is definitely
in the brickyard's best interest to fire as low as possible to produce a brick that still meets ASTM standards. That is really all that is required. So a punky brick that meets ASTM tests is a "good" brick, although maybe not the best brick.
Kathy Chase- Jones wrote:Hi- A co-worker who happens to be a mason posed a question to me that I
couldn't answer. I hope one of you can help.Where can a fired brick be sent
to get a basic idea of the ingredients? His complaint was the brick quality
has gone down , while the prices are continuing to rise. I believe he wants
to manufacture his own bricks.Any suggestions will be appreciated!
Thanks-Kathy Chase-Jones
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