BRICKTECH: Assessment for the use of waste in the brick production. Petrophysical characterization of new mix designs and optimization of the firing conditions

Bricks are traditional building materials with ancient origin, but that can respond to the important challenges the industrial research is currently called to face, i.e. in reducing energy consumption, in lowering production costs and in improving physical properties and durability of the finished products. The growing demand for a sustainable production addressed research to obtain new materials designed to meet environmental issues and society welfare. A possible way to achieve these goals and satisfy these different aspects is the optimisation of new mix design, re-using waste materials produced from industrial, urban and excavation activities. The fulfilment of a sustainable production is twofold, determining a reduction in the exploitation of new geo-resources, and mitigating the problem of waste accumulation and management, reassessing residual materials as secondary sources for a new environmental-friendly material production. Although numerous studies have been carried out in the last decades addressing waste reuse as a successful alternative resource in the production of bricks, their implementation in the industrial sector is still very limited. The main reasons are: i) sporadic partnership between academic research and industry in this technological area; ii) lack of specific standards for the evaluation of processes and finished products; and iii) limited public education on the possible sustainable frontiers. Another important issue should be considered in the production of new materials: the maintenance of the aesthetic quality when substituting traditional materials. Bricks are building materials, and innovation should respect parameters such as the "cultural compatibility", understood as the recognition of the territorial identity of a community. This aspect has even of greater relevance when bricks are used as integration or replacement materials in the restoration of damaged historical buildings. This work aims at filling the gap between academic research and industrial development, through a close collaboration between university and industry and the achievement of common objectives. This was possible with the support of a leader company in the production of traditional bricks, SanMarco-Terreal srl (Noale, Italy), which contributed offering technical support, raw materials and consolidate experience in the production of traditional bricks. New mix designs have been developed according to the objectives of Horizon 2020, (https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/), particularly in the field of sustainable use of natural resources, optimization of firing conditions, recycling and gas emission control, in order to satisfy the goals related to the scientific excellence, the societal challenges and the industry leadership. Therefore, the study focused on: 1) the relationship between chemical-mineralogical characteristics and mechanical properties and durability under different stress conditions of bricks already on the market, obtained by different clays and fired at different temperatures (600, 950, 980, 1050°C); 2) the characterisation of the pore system in commercial bricks using a multi-analytical approach, in order to fully understand and describe porosity through a parameterization of the morphological characteristics of pores. This study was also addressed to the optimization of the pore system in fired bricks obtained from different raw materials and fired at different temperatures (600, 950, 1050°C), providing hints for the optimisation of production strategies that can affect the pore system and the brick quality; 3) the study of new mix designs obtained by adding waste material from quarrying activities and industrial sludge for the production of new bricks based on the concepts of reuse and sustainable use of natural resources. The type of waste specifically adopted were: i) trachyte fragments from quarrying activity (Euganean Hills, Italy); ii) sludge resulting from the ceramic industry. The study of the commercial bricks showed that the chemical-mineralogical and physical-mechanical properties, the porosity and the durability of the finished products are highly dependent on the raw material composition and the firing temperatures reached during the production process. The results obtained for the new experimental products demonstrated the real possibility to achieve new bricks reusing waste, maintaining the physical, mechanical and aesthetic features of the traditional materials and improving the quality of the finished product. More in detail, commercial bricks fired at temperature of 1050°C showed considerable mineralogical transformations, with the growth of new phases and a higher vitrification process in the matrix, which determined improvement of the mechanical properties. On the contrary, brick fired at 600°C had good water behaviour, but resulted weaker during accelerated ageing tests. This behaviour is due to the low compactness determined by the absence of vitrification in the matrix and the low rate of new phase crystallisation. Moreover, it was observed how hausmannite (Mn3O4) used as a dye, caused changes not only in the aesthetic aspect of the finished product determining a dark grey colour, but also in its mechanical properties and in the porous system, since it promotes the melting process. The detailed study of the porosity allowed knowing the pore system in each of the samples and assessing the influence of the raw materials and firing temperature on the development of the pore system. Bricks produced with carbonate clay showed higher porosity and pore interconnection due to the decomposition of the carbonate during the firing process. Moreover, in the bricks fired at higher temperatures (1050°C) changes in the morphology of pores occurred, which became larger and rounder due to the release of volatiles. On the contrary, in bricks obtained from the least carbonate clay and fired at 600°C, porosity displayed very different features, with less homogeneous and smaller pores. In the study on the influence of the waste materials used in the production of new bricks, two different cases were considered: i) addition of stone waste from trachyte quarrying activity; ii) addition of ceramic sludge. These materials were added as temper; influence on the physical-mechanical properties and durability were investigated. Results were satisfactory, recognising their potentiality as possible sustainable additives in the brick industry. It was observed that the alkali feldspars in trachyte act as fluxing agents and decrease the melting point. This effect was emphasized with different observations: textural and mineralogical analyses showed a considerable increase of the number of bridges among minerals and a wider recrystallization of the matrix, sonic data an overall increase in compactness, porometry a different evolution of the pores system upon firing. These changes developed not only at increasing temperature, but also at increasing trachyte content. Furthermore, the analysis of the thermal properties, carried out on infrared images showed that the increasing content of trachyte reduces heat transmittance. Only in one case (a brick with 15% of trachyte and fired at 1050°C) an increase in heat transmittance was observed, caused by the high degree of sintering achieved. In general, the good response to stress conditions (under freeze-thaw and salt crystallization cycles) and the relatively homogeneous features among the samples showed that trachyte can be considered as a valid alternative material to the currently used temper which also brings technical advantages. One important result is that the addition of a trachytic temper confers to bricks the same technical features of traditional ones already at a temperature as low as 900°C, opening the possibility to the reduction of production costs, in addition to that of exploitation and use of new geo-resources. The use of sludge from ceramic industry also showed satisfactory results. Colorimetry proved that these bricks have aesthetic characteristics very similar to those of bricks already on the market, as well as mechanical properties determined by uniaxial compressive and ultrasonic tests. Nonetheless, differences arose when durability was evaluated. While during the salt crystallisation tests the experimental bricks preserve almost intact their original appearance and mechanical properties, they resulted to be particularly vulnerable to freeze-thaw cycles. This suggests that they may represent a valid substitute of commercial bricks, but caution should be taken when using in cold climates. PhD thesis is an important starting point to address the improvement of the traditional bricks in a sustainable way, and the assessment of the characteristics for new materials derived from industrial wastes, evaluating quality and durability. Both case studies demonstrated that the reuse of industrial waste could indeed sustain the industrial sector of brick production, providing a reduction in the exploitation of geo-resources, energy consumption and costs. The comprehension of the intrinsic relationships between mineralogical composition, textural features and physical properties resulted to be fundamental for the development of new products.