Life Cycle Analysis for Brick

aliveness Cycle Analysis For Brick 1Materials argon really only important(p) in wind industry because with the combination of different natural, we kitty create a genuinely strong and unique building form. in that respect are many attribute of material that commonly use in the construction industry, for example the glass, woods, bricks, stones, marble, concretes and etc. Brick is one of the most commonly apply materials in Malaysia, because almost all house in housing area was built by bricks.From this demonstrate I want to give analysis about the brick aliveness rhythm method included its origin and how the brick being used after the end of its life cycle. 2Brick was appeared since the beginning of the civilization, which is the ancient Mesopotamia around 8000 BC. (Think Brick Australia 2007) The thick cadaver and flub go out by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers was reinforced with straw and shaped into brick and then dried in the sun.Bricks were glazed in a variet y of colours as the meter progressed and used to decorate the facades of the ziggurat, or temple towers, built as stairways to and for the Gods. In the end, people started to realize that when the wooden houses burned and the brick on the remaining chimneys had been strengthened, so fire-hardened bricks began to replace adobe ones in India and the Middle East. And the Romans used kiln-burned brick in lodge with an efficient mortar of lime and vol skunkic ash to construct buildings that were both(prenominal) beautiful and last desireer. Think Brick Australia 2007) 3Brick is a masonry unit of remains, formed into a rectangular prism while plastic and hardened by poke in a kiln. The manufacture of bricks is used easily workable and overweight materials and the materials are bared to contain any large hard components or lumps of lime, this is to avoid crack and split of the brick. We can obtain clay on the bug out of the ground. There are three principal form of clay used to ma nufactured clay brick which are surface clay, shales, and fire clays.The surface clays is aqueous clays which found near the surface of the earth, shales is clay that go by been subjected to senior high school pressures until they prepare hardened almost to the form of slate, and the fire clays is clays which pick out found deeper in the ground than other types and to have refractory qualities. These three principal forms of clays have similar chemical compositions but appear in different physical. The clays can easily be found and to extract because ordinarily we can fancy it in the ground surface. After the clay has been extract from the ground, it covered with water establishment, usually used to be work by hand with special hoe.There are several fermentes to form a brick which are soft mud process, stiff mud process and dry-press process. (Ching and Adams 2001, 12. 06) The soft mud process refers to forming brick by molding relatively wet clay having a moisture fill of 20 share to 30 percent. (Ching and Adams 2001, 12. 06) The Stiff mud process refers to forming brick and structural tile by extruding stiff but plastic clay having moisture content of 12 percent to 15 percent and then the de-airing utensil will abrogates air and eliminating holes and bubbles in the clay. Ching and Adams 2001, 12. 06) After that the clay is force through die and cutting the extrusion to length with wires before to heat the coda in the kiln. The dry-press process refers to forming brick by molding relatively dry or low plasticity clay which having moisture content of 5 percent to 7 percent under high pressure, the resulting of this process is sharp-edged, smooth-surfaced bricks. (Ching and Adams 2001, 12. 06) 4The most important step to form a stronger brick is through the drying and firing process.There are three different kinds generally used the humidity system of drying can be applied to any type of dryer, as the term humidity drying represents a process r ather than a form of structural design. humidity drying whitethorn be divided into three defends first is the heating stage, during which the clay is gradually heated up in an atmosphere of relatively high humidity, this pr blushts excessive cracking or distorting on the face of the brick. After that is the drying period, in which the air is heated to a maximum temperature for the clay being dried, the humidity is gradually decreased to allow the clay to dry uniformly all the way through.And the third which is the cooling stage, in which the temperature is gradually decreased to uniformity. The clay is not fully dried when placed in the kiln. Hygroscopic water is not driven off at ordinary temperatures or even at the boiling point of water. In fact, the temperature often rises quite a bit above the boiling point before the water is in all evolved. The watersmoking is accomplished by fire in the kiln furnaces. Wood is frequently used for this purpose, to avoid sooting. In the wate rsmoking eriod it is desired to heat up the brick, evaporate and remove the moisture, and to accomplish this successfully, it is genuinely necessary that draft be strong. The watersmoking is the most vituperative point in the life of the brick. The process must be carried very slowly the water in coming out of the clay may crack the surface. After the watersmoking is completed, the temperature is increase to that required in oxidation. Oxidation begins in the later stages of vitrification, but the greater part occurs between the temperatures of 800oF and 1300oF.At this stage most of the impurities are given off and the metals constituting the clay are changed to their various(prenominal) oxides. The highest temperature reached at this point is usually near 2000oF. 5Brick grade designates the durability of a brick unit when exposed to weathering. The United States is divided into three weathering regions, severe, moderate, and negligible, according to yearbook winter rainfall and the annual number of freezing-cycle sidereal days. (Ching and Adams 2001, 12. 6) Brick is graded for use in each region according to compressive strength, maximum water absorption, and maximum strength coefficient. The three grades are SW is brick adequate for image to severe weathering, as when in contact with the ground or used on surfaces potential to be permeated with water in subfreezing temperatures minimum compressive strength of 17238 kPa. (Ching and Adams 2001, 12. 06) MW is brick suitable for exposure to moderate weathering, as when used above grade on surfaces tall(a) to be permeated with water in subfreezing temperatures minimum compressive strength of 15169 kPa. Ching and Adams 2001, 12. 06) NW is brick suitable for exposure to negligible weathering, as when used as a mount or interior masonry minimum compressive strength of 18243 kPa. (Ching and Adams 2001, 12. 06) 6The manual production of the bricks involves in the main four operations namely, soil preparatio n, moulding, drying and firing. The main process in which vigour is consumed is firing of bricks. The make sense of total combust required is about 18 tonnes to 22 tonnes depending upon the weather condition, quality of coal, etc.A tonne of coal gives about 12. 3MJ to 13. 3MJ depending upon the quality of the coal generally transported from far off distances. (Gumaste n. d. ) The readiness required to produce each brick inclusive of transportation comes to about 5 MJ per brick. (Gumaste n. d. ) Advantage of using bricks One of the advantages of using brick to build building is because brick is a high thermal mass material, it absorb heat passim the day and release it slowly at night, this is ensuring internal temperatures are consistent throughout the day and night.The result is were able to have comfortable and fit living and working environment in which to enjoy stable temperatures throughout the year. Brick building also very sustainable because they highly durable, strait foresighted term life performance, low maintenance, and energy efficient and recyclable. But bricks have been labeled as having high embodied energy due to their process of manufacture. However, in measuring sustainability it is necessary to take into account a materials life cycle performance, s well as the amount of energy consumed in the manufacturing process.And a recent research by speak up brick demonstrates that the proportion of embodied energy of clay bricks for the modern semi-detached home is represent to just 1. 87 percent of the over all heating exigency for the home over its 150 year life. Moreover during the manufacture of brick, very little clay is wasted, and those unfired waste clay is reused in the manufacturing process and little than perfect fired bricks are crushed and used as a aggregates in other parts of the building industry. In conclusion, brick has a very high embodied energy during manufacture, especially in the firing system which required many of the energy to burn the brick, but it is highly durable, offer long term life performance and low maintenance so it is very suitable as a material to built the long stay building. Reference list Berge, B and Trans. 2000. The Ecology of Building Materials. capital of the United Kingdom Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd. Ching, F. D. K. , and C. Adams. 2001. Building construction illustrated. tertiary ed. Toronto John Wiley & sons Inc. Gumaste, K. S. n. d.Embodied energy computations in buildings. http//www. ese. iitb. ac. in/aer2006_files/papers/144. pdf (accessed folk 24, 2008) Simmons, H. L. 2001. Construction Principles Materials and Methods. 7th edition. New York John Willey and Sons Inc. Think Brick Australia. 2007. Why hire Brick? Sustainability. http//www. thinkbrick. com. au/thinking-brick/why-brick/sustainability_home/sustainability_home. cfm (accessed October 10, 2008). Think Brick United Kingdom. 2007. Why Brick? http//www. brick. org. uk/about-us/why-use -brick. html (accessed on family line 24, 2008)