THE MECHANICAL PERFORMANCE AND MORPHOLOGY OF COAL WASTE BRICK

Brick is one of the most important materials for building
construction. Brick had been used for non-loading structure and
need to be made from durable materials. The common materials
used for brick are clay, sand and cement. However, the issue of
depletion of natural resources has become a major concern
nowadays. On the other hand, waste materials generated from coal
power plants have been studied by many researchers and proven
to be suitable as one of the brick materials. This waste is
abundantly available in landfills without any profit. Therefore,
this paper focuses on the development of coal bottom ash brick in
term of mechanical performance. The density, compressive
strength and water absorption capabilities of the coal bottom ash
bricks have been investigated at 7, 14 and 28 days of curing. The
findings revealed that bricks made of coal bottom ash had a low
density while maintaining its compressive strength. In conclusion,
the use of coal bottom ash in brick manufacturing has a lot of
potentials to be used in industry.