| An Experimental Design for the Optimization of Brick Manufacturing Procedure: Application on the
Late Miocene Clays, Southern Tunisia |
Mabrouk Eloussaief , Nadim Fakhfakh, Ali Sdiri, Samir Bouaziz and Mourad Benzina
pages 195-202
DOI:10.1080/0371750X.2012.762154 |
| Abstract |
Clay deposits of the Segui formation (Jebel Stah of the Gafsa basin, Southwestern Tunisia) were used as natural material for brick manufacturing. Factors influencing the preparation procedure were optimized by an experimental design to find out the most propitious conditions for the preparation of bricks of high quality. The collected clay samples were characterized by various techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and pycnometry. The optimum conditions for the preparation of high quality materials were investigated by studying the effects of clay minerals percentage, sintering time and temperature. Then various tests including sintering shrinkage, water absorption and compressive strength of the newly prepared brick samples were evaluated to determine the optimum preparation conditions. Results showed that the optimized conditions were: 80% illite, 830oC sintering temperature and 2 h sintering time. The same results showed that brick shrinkage depended mainly on water absorption, illite and smectite percentages. These results suggested that clay samples from Jebel Stah are promising natural materials that could be used to prepare bricks with better mechanical properties.
[Keywords: Clay, Characterization, Experimental design, Mechanical properties, Brick manufacturing]
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