Development of brick by utilizing rice husk ash as the partial replacement for clay

The study was conducted at Sylhet Agricultural University Campus to find out how adding rice husk ash (RHA) affected the characteristics of Sylhet clay bricks. The goal of the study was to establish the ideal RHA percentage to utilize in brick production as well as the impact of RHA on the water absorption, compressive strength, shrinkage, density, and thermal properties of bricks. Therefore, an attempt has been made by using RHA from 5-20% by weight as clay replacement for bricks. The study figured out that water absorption of bricks increases with the increasing percentage of RHA. Brick containing 5% RHA showed the lowest water absorption, which was 17.8%, and the highest was 21.33% for 20% RHA-containing brick. It was also found that the highest compressive strength among all types of bricks was 8.401 N/mm2 for 5% RHA-containing brick. Similarly, the brick containing 5% RHA had the maximum density (1676.395 Kg/m3) and thermal conductivity (0.584 Wm-1K-1) of all the bricks combined with rice husk ash. The study also revealed no significant changes in shrinkage for all RHA Bricks and the percentages were the same, which was 14.28%. From the investigation, it is seen 5% rice husk ash can be the optimum percentage when mixing with clay and can be used in replace of first-class as well as second and third-class Manual Handling bricks, which are used in the construction of internal walls, foundations, and in temporary structures, respectively.