Brick


==== A Brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using mortar. Bricks are used for building and pavement. Bricks  ====

 are also used in the metallurgy and glass industries for lining furnaces.
==== Brick masonry units may be solid, hollow, or   architectural terra cotta. All types can serve a structural function, a decorative function, or a combination of both. The various types differ in their formation and composition. ====


==== Building brick, also called common, hard, or   kiln-run brick, is made from ordinary clay or shale and   is fired in kilns. These bricks have no special shoring, markings, surface texture, or color. Because building bricks are generally used as the backing courses in either solid or cavity brick walls, the harder and more durable types are preferred. ====


==== Face brick is better quality and has better   durability and appearance than building brick. Because of this, face bricks are used in exposed wall faces. The most common face brick colors are various shades of brown, red, gray, yellow, and white. ====

====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Clinker brick is over burned in the kiln. Clinker  bricks are usually rough, hard, durable, and sometimes irregular in shape. ====

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> [[image:pressed.jpg width="145" height="76" align="left"]]
====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Pressed brick is made by a dry-press process,   rather than by kiln firing. Pressed bricks have regular, smooth faces, sharp edges, and perfectly square corners. Ordinarily, they are used like face brick. ====

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> [[image:glazed_brick.jpg width="150" height="109" align="right"]]
====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Glazed brick has one surface coated with a white   or colored ceramic glazing. The glazing forms when  mineral ingredients f use together in a glasslike coating  during burning. Glazed bricks are particularly suited  to walls or partitions in hospitals, dairies, laboratories,   and other structures requiring sanitary conditions and   ease of cleaning. ====

====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Fire brick is made from a special type of clay. This clay is very pure and uniform and is able to withstand the high temperatures of fireplaces, boilers, and similar constructions. Fire bricks are generally larger than other structural bricks and are often hand-molded   ====

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> [[image:colored_cored_half_bricks.jpg width="180" height="135" align="right"]]
====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Cored bricks have ten holes—two rows of five   holes each-extending through their beds to reduce weight. Walls built from cored brick are not much different in strength than walls built from solid brick. Also, both have about the same resistance to moisture penetration. Whether cored or solid, use the more available brick that meets building requirements. ====

====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> European brick has strength and durability about   equal to U.S. clay brick. This is particularly true of the English and Dutch types. ====

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> [[image:sandlimebrick.jpg width="152" height="96" align="right"]]
====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Sand-lime brick is made from a lean mixture of   slaked lime and fine sand. Sand-lime bricks are molded under mechanical pressure and are hardened under steam pressure. These bricks are used extensively in Germany. ====

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====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Bricks may be made from clay sahle, soft slate,calcium silicate, concrete, or shaped from quarried stone. Clay is the most common material, with modern clay bricks formed in one of three processes - soft mud, dry press, or extruded. In 2007 a new type of brick was invented, based onfly ash, a by-product of coal power plants. There are different techniques to create a brick; two of them are the mud and the fly ash method. ==== ====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> The soft mud method is the most common, as it is the most economical. It starts with the raw clay, preferably in a mix with 25-30% sand to reduce shrinkage. The clay is first ground and mixed with water to the desired consistency. The clay is then pressed into steel moulds with a hydraulic press. The shaped clay is then fired ("burned") at 900-1000 °C to achieve strength. ==== ====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> The brick invented in 2007, (Fly ash brick), is toughened using an air entrainment agent, which traps microscopic bubbles inside the brick so that it resists penetration by water, allowing it to withstand up to 100 freeze-thaw cycles. Since the manufacturing method uses a waste by-product rather than clay, and solidification takes place under pressure rather than heat, it has several important environmental benefits. It saves energy, reduces mercury pollution, alleviates the need for landfill disposal of fly ash, and costs 20% less than traditional clay brick manufacture. ====

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