Production and Characterization of Porous Insulating Fired Bricks from Ifon Clay with Varied Sawdust Admixture

Fatai Olufemi Aramide

Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria.

DOI: 10.4236/jmmce.2012.1110097                

Abstract

The effect of compositions of saw dust admixture on thermal conductivity and other mechanical/refractory properties of Ifon Clay was investigated. The raw clay gotten from Ifon in Ondo state was first processed to very fine particles and characterized using SEM/EDX, XRD and XRF. Sawdust from mahogany tree procured from a saw mill in Akure the State capital of Ondo State was also dried to remove moisture present. A composite mixture of this dried saw dust with the processed clay was made at various proportions of the saw dust, with a little addition of water for plasticity. Sam- ples of cylindrical dimensions were then produced from the mounting press by the process of compaction with a very high pressure. The samples were dried and then finally fired in the furnace at 1000?C for a final curing. Properties which include thermal shock resistance, bulk density, cold crushing strength, thermal conductivity and porosity were obtained by the appropriate standard test methods. The microstructures of the fired samples were also characterized with SEM using back scattered secondary imaging. The results show that the amount of sawdust admixture affects the properties variously; porosity increases with percentage increase in sawdust admixture while the thermal conductivity and other properties of the sample reduce with percentage increase in sawdust admixture. It was concluded that for structural insulating bricks where compressive strength is important the sawdust admixture should not exceed 10 to 15 percent.

Keywords

Thermal Conductivity; Porosity; Insulating Brick; Ceramic

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	L. H. Van Vlack, “Concise Encyclopedia of Advanced Ceramic Materials,” Pergamon Press, New York, 1991.
[2]	J. D. F. Ramsay, In: K. K. Unger, J. Rouquerol, K. S. W. Sing and H. Kral, “Studies in Surface Science and Catalysis,” Characterisation of Porous Solids, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1998, p. 23.
[3]	S. J. Gregg and K. S.W. Sing, “Adsorption, Surface Area and Porosity,” 2nd Edition, Academic Press, London, 1995.
[4]	I. Ibrahim, “Design, Construction and Testing of Thermal Conductivity Equipment,” B.Eng. Thesis, Federal Uni- versity of Technology, Yola, 2005.
[5]	B. I. Ugheoke, E. O. Onche, O. N. Namessan, G. A. Asikpo, “Property Optimization of Kaolin-Rice Husk In- sulating Fire-Bricks,” Leonardo Electronic Journal of Practices and Technologies, No. 9, 2006, pp. 167-178.
[6]	W. M. Carty and U. Senapati, “Porcelain-Raw Materials, Processing, Phase Evolution, and Mechanical Behavior,” Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol. 81, No. 1, 1998, pp. 3-20. doi:10.1111/j.1151-2916.1998.tb02290.x
[7]	S. Ergul, M. Akyildiz and A. Karamanov, “Ceramic Ma- terial from Basaltic Tuffs,” Industrial Ceramics, Vol. 27, No. 2, 2007, pp. 89-94
[8]	J. Hlavac, “The Technology of Glass and Ceramics: An Introduction,” Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1983.
[9]	W. D. Kingery, “Introduction to Ceramics,” John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1976.
[10]	T. Manfredini, G. Pellacani, M. Romagnoli and L. Pen- nisi, “Porcelainized Stoneware Tile,” The Bulletin of the American Ceramic Society, Vol. 74, No. 5, 1995, pp. 76- 79.
[11]	J. S. Reed, “Principles of Ceramic Proceedings,” John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1995.
[12]	A. R. Chesti, “Refractories: Manufacture, Properties, and Applications,” Prentice-Hall of India Private Limited, Delhi, 1986.
[13]	L. P. Li, Z. G. Wu, Z. Y. Li, Y. L. He and W. Q. Tao, “Numerical Thermal Optimization of the Configuration of Multi-Holed Clay Bricks Used for Constructing Building Walls by the Finite Volume Method,” International Jour- nal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol. 51, No. 3, 2008, pp. 3669-3682. doi:10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2007.06.008
[14]	A. A. Kadir and A. Mohajerani, F. Roddick and J. Buckeridge “Density, Strength, Thermal Conductivity and Leachate Characteristics of Light-Weight Fired Clay Bricks Incorporating Cigarette Butts,” International Jour- nal of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Vol. 2, No. 4, 2010, pp. 1035-1040.
[15]	F. H. Norton, “Refractories,” 4th Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1968.
[16]	W. Schulle and E. Schlegel Ceramic, “Monographs- Handbook,” Verslag Schmid, 1991, pp.1, 2, 4-6.
[17]	A. Jonker, “Insulating Refractory Materials from Inorganic Waste Resources,” Ph.D. Thesis, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, 2006.