Production and Characterization of Porous Insulating Fired Bricks from Ifon Clay with Varied Sawdust Admixture
- 1 Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria
Abstract
The effect of compositions of saw dust admixture on thermal conductivity and other mechanical/refractory properties of Ifon Clay was investigated. The raw clay gotten from Ifon in Ondo state was first processed to very fine particles and characterized using SEM/EDX, XRD and XRF. Sawdust from mahogany tree procured from a saw mill in Akure the State capital of Ondo State was also dried to remove moisture present. A composite mixture of this dried saw dust with the processed clay was made at various proportions of the saw dust, with a little addition of water for plasticity. Sam- ples of cylindrical dimensions were then produced from the mounting press by the process of compaction with a very high pressure. The samples were dried and then finally fired in the furnace at 1000?C for a final curing. Properties which include thermal shock resistance, bulk density, cold crushing strength, thermal conductivity and porosity were obtained by the appropriate standard test methods. The microstructures of the fired samples were also characterized with SEM using back scattered secondary imaging. The results show that the amount of sawdust admixture affects the properties variously; porosity increases with percentage increase in sawdust admixture while the thermal conductivity and other properties of the sample reduce with percentage increase in sawdust admixture. It was concluded that for structural insulating bricks where compressive strength is important the sawdust admixture should not exceed 10 to 15 percent.
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