Production and characterization of clay – cow dung insulating fire - bricks

O.S. Olokode*; P.O. Aiyedun; D.M. Raheem; F.T. Owoeye and B.U. Anyanwu

Mechanical Engineering Department, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, (FUNAAB), P M B 2240, Abeokuta, Nigeria

Corresponding author Email: engr_olokode@yahoo.com

Accepted 10 September 2012

Abstract

The use of clay is of high economic potential in Abeokuta, South West Nigeria, to metallurgical, chemical and allied, ceramic and glass industries. This research work was carried out to investigate the suitability of using clay – cow dung to produce insulating firebrick and to determine the optimal ratio of the constituent. Two clay samples were collected from Ilese Awo clay deposit (Ilese Awo 1 and Ilese Awo 2). Preliminary test were carried out to determine the chemical constituents of clay samples and cow dung using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometric Analysis (AAS).  Six different compositions of brick samples were produced from the two clay samples, the brick samples were fired at a temperature of 1200ᴼC. Three of the sample (samples 4, 5 and 6) crumbled during firing while the remaining three samples (samples 1, 2 and 3) gave the following limits of results: - linear shrinkage: 6 – 8%, bulk density: 1.97 – 2.35g/cm3, porosity: 22.54 – 30.62%, permeability: 88 – 112%, cold crushing strength: 64 -152.5Kg/cm2, thermal shock resistance: 12 – 30 cycle, and thermal conductivity: 0.156 – 0.21W/mK. The results showed that all the brick samples had good insulating characteristics, suggesting that cow dung can be used as additive in production of insulating fire- bricks.

Keywords: Clay, Cow dung, Ilese Awo, Firing, Shrinkage, Refractoriness, thermal, conductivity