Bricks have been used as a building material since 7000BC, originally made of sun-dried mud but later fired bricks proved more durable. Bricks are now one of the most commonly used building materials after wood. They are manufactured through processes like soft mud, dry press, and extrusion from raw materials like clay, calcium silicate, or concrete. Bricks provide benefits like strength, fire resistance, insulation, and durability making them a versatile and long-lasting building material.

1. BRICKS

2.  Bricks are one of the oldest known building materials
dating back to 7000BC where they were first found in
southern Turkey and around Jericho. The first bricks
were sun dried mud bricks. Fired bricks were found to
be more resistant to harsher weather conditions,
which made them a much more reliable brick for use
in permanent buildings, where mud bricks would not
have been sufficient.

3.  Bricks now
 Bricks are more commonly used in the construction of
buildings than any other material except wood. Brick
and terracotta architecture is dominant within its field
and a great industry has developed and invested in the
manufacture of many different types of bricks of all
shapes and colours. With modern machinery, earth
moving equipment, powerful electric motors and
modern tunnel kilns, making bricks has become much
more productive and efficient. Bricks can be made from
variety of materials the most common being clay but
also calcium silicate and concrete. With clay bricks
being the more popular, they are now manufactured
using three processes soft mud, dry press and
extruded. Also during 2007 the new ‘fly ash’ brick was
created using the by-products from coal power plants.

4. How bricks are made?

5. Bricks are made from wetting clay which
you press it into a mould and then bake
the clay in an oven until it is hard.
The traditional way

6.  Raw Materials
 Natural clay minerals, including kaolin and shale, make
up the main body of brick. Small amounts of
manganese, barium, and other additives are blended with
the clay to produce different shades, and
barium carbonate is used to improve brick's chemical
resistance to the elements. Many other additives have
been used in brick.
 A wide variety of coating materials and methods are used
to produce brick of a certain color or surface texture.
Sometimes a flux or frit (a glass containing colorants) is
added to produce surface textures..Other materials
including graded fired and unfired brick, nepheline

7.  The Manufacturing
Process
1-Grinding, sizing, and combining
raw materials
2-Extrusion
3-Coating
4-Drying
5-firing

9. Brick format

10.  The format of brick is 90mm x 90mm x 90mm
and 190mm x190mm x 190mm .
 With mortar joints ,the size of these bricks are
taken as 200mm x 100mm x 100mm and 200 mm
x 100 mm x 50 mm .
 The most common brick size is the ‘Imperial
Brick’, which measures 222mm long x 106mm
wide x 73mm high with a mass of between 3.0kg.
 There are also other sizes and formats available.

11. Types of bricks

12.  Concrete Bricks
These bricks have either pale green or gray color. These
are prepared from a small, dry aggregate concrete which
is formed in steel molds by using vibration and
compaction. The entire manufacturing process is incurred
either in an egg Layer or static machine. Rather than
firing, the curing process is used to convert the blocks
thus prepared into bricks under low pressure steam.
 High Alumina Bricks
High alumina bricks from 50% upto 90% Alumina are
made with various selected superior grade aggregates to
meet the various service conditions of various types of
furnaces like laddie, blast furnace, cement and sponge
iron Rotary Kiln, calciner , etc., The 90% alumina dense
bricks are manufactured from tabular alumina purer micro
fine alumina and other special type raw material and fired
in ultra high temperature kiln at 1650-1700BC. Due to the
intent micro structural features of the raw materials used
for these bricks, they have excellent resistance to wear
and thermal shock.

13.  Fire Brick
A fire brick is a block of ceramic material used in
masonry construction and sized to be layed with one
hand using mortar. Bricks may be made from type of
material .These are built primarily to withstand high
heat and also find applications in extreme
mechanical, chemical, or thermal stresses. The brick
is widely used as refractory insulating bricks for
maintaining insistent temperature.
 Light Weight Hollow Blocks
This blocks are used in construction of houses in
earthquake prone areas. These bricks are made of fly
ash, cement, lime, gypsum, stone dust etc. Available
in different sizes. Hollow concrete blocks is used as
substitute for conventional bricks or stones used in
construction of buildings. And the blocks' importmant
feature

15. Properties of bricks

16.  Aesthetic
Bricks offer natural and a variety of colors, including
various textures
 Strength
Bricks offer excellent high compressive strength.
 Porosity
The porosity of bricks in attributed to its fine capillaries.
The ability to release and absorb moisture is one of the
most important and useful properties of bricks, regulating
temperatures and humidity inside structures.
 Fire Resistance
When prepared properly a brick structure can give a fire
protection maximum rating of 6 hours

17.  Sound Insulation
The brick sound insulation is normally 45 decibels for a 4.5
inches brick thickness and 50 decibels for a nine inch thick
brick.
 Insulation
Bricks can exhibit above normal thermal insulation when
compared to other building materials. Bricks can help
regulate and maintain constant interior temperatures of a
structure due to their ability to absorb and slowly release
heat. This way bricks can produce significant energy
savings, more than 30% of energy saving, when
compared to wood.
 Wear
A brick is so strong, that its molecular composition
provides excellent wear resistance.
 Efflorescence
Efflorescence forms on concrete structures and surfaces
when soluble salts dissolved in water are deposited and
accumulated on surfaces forming a visible scum.

18. Classification

19. The bricks used in
construction are classified as:
 First class bricks
 Second class bricks
 Third class bricks
 Fourth class bricks

20. Tests on bricks

21.  Crushing strength test
 Water Absorption test
 Efflorescence test
 Hardness test
 Size, Shape and Color test
 Soundness test
 Structure test

22. USES

23.  Structural uses: such as foundations walls and floors.
 Decorative/ornamental uses: May be cast to from
moldings and other decorative features may be
carved also may be used in a variety of colors, textures,
bonds and joints.
 May be concealed by other finish materials such
as stucco, plaster or paint, or may be exposed both on
the interior and exterior.
 Bricks are also used in the metallurgy and
glass industries for lining furnaces.
 They have various uses, especially refractory bricks such
as silica, magnesia,
chamotte andneutral (chromomagnesite) refractory
bricks. This type of brick must have good thermal shock
resistance, under load, high melting point,
and satisfactory porosity.
 Bricks are used for building and pavement . Earlier
brick pavement was found incapable of
withstanding heavy traffic,but it is coming back into use as
a method of traffic calming or as adecorative
surface in pedestrian precincts.

24. Advantages

25.  The use of materials such as brick and stone can
increase the thermal mass of building, giving increased
comfort in the heat of summer and cold of winter and
can be ideal for passive solar applications.
 Brick typically will not require painting and so
can provide a structure with reduced life cycle costs,
although sealing appropriately will reduce
potential spalling due to frost damage. Concrete block of
the non decorative variety generally
is painted or stuccoed if exposed.
 The appearance especially when well crafted, can
impart an impression of solidity and permanence.
 Brick is very heat resistant material and thus will provide
good fire protection.
 Being much more resistant
to cold and moist weather conditions, brick enabled the
construction of permanent buildings in regions where