Performance of cement stabilised peat bricks / Syed Mofachirul Islam

Syed Mofachirul, Islam (2015) Performance of cement stabilised peat bricks / Syed Mofachirul Islam. Masters thesis, University of Malaya.

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Abstract

The popularity of low cost, lightweight and environmentally affable masonry unit in building industry carries the need to investigate more flexible and adaptable brick components as well as to retain the requirements of building standards. This thesis presents a study on peat used in building materials, as well as the effect of peat on bricks with regard to durability and thermal transmittance. The physical and mechanical properties of peat added bricks are discusses on this study. In this regard, it considered influence of peat on the brick composites and their role in various types of constructional applications. The durability of peat added bricks was tested using a modified Spray Test in order to examine performance of competent strategies to counter deterioration due to wind-driven rain erosion. The thermo-mechanical performances of peat added bricks examined here are intended to fill the gap of knowledge to some extend in bricks production. A comparative analysis was conducted between sand-brick and peat-brick in order to study the effect of peat inclusion on the thermal properties. Thermal test was performed using a dynamic adiabatic-box technique. The time–temperature data of the test samples were compared for the test samples. It was found that the compressive strength, splitting tensile stress, flexural strength, unit weight, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) were significantly reduced and the water absorption was increased with percentage wise replacement of peat as aggregate in the samples. The maximum 20% of (mass) peat content can satisfy the relevant international standards. The experimental values illustrated that, the 54% volumetric replacement with peat did not exhibit any sudden brittle fracture, even beyond the ultimate loads. Erosion resistance of peat added brick was found greatly influenced by the percentage of peat content. An increase of 10% in peat content leads to a sharp negative change in erosion depth. This is followed by a growth of 65% in erosion rate. The specimens with maximum of 20% peat had better erosion resistance but the brick with 25% peat required good surface finish. Thermal test results indicate that inclusion of peat into sand-cement mixture decreases the thermal conductivity i.e. thermal insulation performance improves in the range of 2.2% to 6.2% after inclusion of peat and depends on the amount of peat content. From this study, it can be concluded that the physical and mechanical properties, durability and thermal performance of the peat added bricks greatly depend on the peat content. The application of peat and sand as efficient brick substance indeed has a potential to be used in wall and as an alternative building material.

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