How to Check Quality of Brick
- Brick are the most common and useful building materials used for masonry construction work.
- To build a long-lasting structure we should always use good quality bricks and other building materials.
BRICK TESTS :-
Compressive Strength Test
- This test is performed to determine the compressive strength of bricks.
- It is additionally known as the crushing strength test of bricks.
- A brick sample is kept on the crushing machine and then the pressure is thoroughly applied axially until it breaks.
- The maximum pressure at which the brick start to crack is noted.
- The test is repeated with 5 brick sample one by one and the average result is considered as the compressive strength or crushing strength of bricks.
Water Absorption Test
- In this test, bricks are weighted first in dry condition ( W1) and then they are fully submerged in water for 24 hours.
- After immersion of hours, the bricks are collected and weighed again in wet condition (W2).
- The difference of weight between dry and wet condition is considered as the water absorbed by the bricks.
- Then the amount of water absorption is determined in percentage (%).
Water absorption (%) = [ (W2-W1) / W1 ] * 100
- The less water consumption by the bricks indicates their greater quality.
- A brick will be considered as good quality if it does not consume more than 20 % water of its own weight.
Efflorescence Test
- This test is carried out to obtain the presence of alkaline substances in bricks.
- First, brick are fully submerged in freshwater for 24 hours.
- After 24 hours they are collected from water and left to dry.
- After completely dried the bricks are closely observed to find the presence of alkali.
- If a white or gray layer is formed on the brick surface, it means alkali is present in the brick.
Impact Test
- In this test few bricks are dropped from 1-meter height.
- If bricks are broken it indicates low impact value and not acceptable for construction work.
- Good quality bricks do not break at all.
Dimension Tolerance Test
- 20 bricks are randomly collected and arranged in a straight line.
- This is done to see the variation of shape, size, and color with the standard bricks.
Soundness Test of Bricks
- In this test, two randomly selected bricks are hardly punched with each other.
- If they produce a clear metallic sound and remain unbroken then they are good quality bricks.
Hardness Test
- This test is done to know the hardness of bricks.
- In this test, scratches are made on the surface of the brick by a hard thing.
- If it does not leave any impression on the brick surface then it will be considered as good quality bricks.
Structure Test
- In this test, a brick is fractured and firmly investigated.
- If any flaws, holes or cracks are seen inside the broken brick, then it is considered as poor quality brick.