Effect of some organic additives on compressive strength of clay bricks

ABSTRACT

Organic additives are agro-waste materials which when mixed with clay; improve its physical properties and its performance. These physical properties include compression strength, density, porosity etc. In addition to cost, challenges facing clay bricks are their reliability. The effect of some organic additives on compressive strength of clay bricks was investigated, were some possible organic additives, including Rice husk, Rice husk ash, Cow dung and Cow dung ash were considered. A literature review was conducted in order to assimilate past work and experimental results. The result of test for compressive strength were compared and discussed. The determination of the effect of adding of organic additives on the compressive strength on the bricks was hindered by a lack of comparable data; however, the limited comparison available suggested the necessity for additional, directly comparable compressive strength. The compressive strength of Rice husk was compared with that of Rice husk ash and Cow dung with Cow dung ash. The result shows that Rice husk and Cow dung addition increases the compressive strength with increased addition while Rice husk and Cow dung ash decreases the compressive strength with increased addition.