Structural Properties of Rice Husk and Sawdust Composite Bricks
Daniel Momngu Tiough, Ph.D
Department of Vocational and Technical Education
Benue State University, Makurdi
ABSTRACT
What determine whether a material will be suitable for use on a building is its properties. One of the most important properties of building units, desirable, is their compressive strength. The materials of rice husk and sawdust are moulded into bricks in this study and their compressive strength is tested. 432 brick specimens were produced. The design used for this study is Research and Development (R&D) design. The bricks are moulded, cured and tested to determine their compressive strength after yield. Mix ratios of 1;3:3, 1:2:4, 1:4:2, 2:1:1, 2:1:2, 2:2:1, 3:1:1, 3:2:1, and 3:1:2 were used. Two curing methods were also used viz: sun drying curing method and room drying curing method. It was discovered that the bricks attained a compressive strength of 0.025 N/mm2 which is far below the 1.75 N/mm2 recommended for sandcrete blocks. The study therefore recommended that though these bricks have not attained the compressive strength to warrant their use as load bearing bricks they could still be used as in fills or as inner walls in buildings to improve both the thermal as well as sound insulation of the building.
Keywords: Compressive strength, curing method, rice husk, sawdust and mix ratio.
