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Brick
*** Shopping-Tip: Brick
:''This page is about '''bricks''' used for construction. For other uses of the word "brick" please see
Brick (disambiguation).''
Image:BrickWall.jpg thumb|A weathered brick wall.
A '''brick''' is a
ceramic block made of
kiln-fired material, usually
clay or ground
shale. Clay bricks are formed in a mould (the soft mud method), or more frequently in commercial mass production by extruding clay through a
Die (manufacturing) die and then wire-cutting them to the desired size (the stiff mud process). Brick made from dampened clay must be formed in molds with a great deal of pressure, usually applied by a
Hydraulics hydraulic press. These bricks are known as hydraulic-pressed bricks, and have a dense surface which makes them highly resistant to
weathering, and thus suitable for facing work. The shaped
clay is then dried and fired to achieve the final, desired strength. In modern brickworks, this is usually done in a continuously fired kiln, in which the bricks move slowly through the kiln on conveyors, rails, or kiln cars to achieve consistent physical characteristics for all bricks. Bricks are also known in the building trades as compressed earth blocks or CEBs.
History
Image:Shebli2.jpg right|thumb|The brickwork of [[Shebeli Tower displays 12th century craftsmanship.]]
Image:Roskilde domkirke west fassade.jpg thumb|West face of Roskilde Cathedral in Roskilde, Denmark
In the
Near East and
India, bricks have been in use for more than five thousand years. The
Tigris-
Euphrates plain lacks
rock (geology) rocks and
trees.
Sumerian architecture Sumerian structures were thus built of plano-convex
mudbricks, not fixed with
Mortar (masonry) mortar or with
cement. As plano-convex bricks (being rounded) are somewhat unstable in behaviour, Sumerian bricklayers would lay a row of bricks perpendicular to the rest every few rows. They would fill the gaps with
bitumen,
straw,
reed (plant) marsh reeds, and
weeds.
The
Ancient Egyptians and the
Indus Valley Civilization also used mudbrick extensively, as can be seen in the ruins of
Buhen,
Mohenjo-daro and
Harappa, for example. In the
Indus Valley Civilization particularly, all bricks corresponded to sizes in a perfect
ratio of 4:2:1, and made use of the
decimal system. The ratio for brick dimensions 4:2:1 is even today considered optimal for effective bonding.
The
Ancient Rome Romans made use of fired bricks, and the
Roman legions, which operated mobile kilns, introduced bricks to many parts of the empire. Roman bricks are often stamped with the mark of the legion that supervised its production. The use of bricks in Southern and Western
Germany, for example, can be traced back to traditions already described by the Roman architect
Vitruvius.
In the
12th century, bricks from Northern
Italy were re-introduced to Northern Germany, where an independent tradition evolved. It culminated in the so-called
brick Gothic, a reduced style of
Gothic architecture that flourished in
Northern Europe, especially in the regions around the
Baltic Sea which are without natural rock resources. Brick Gothic buildings, which are built almost exclusively of bricks, are to be found in
Denmark,
Germany,
Poland and
Russia. However, bricks were long considered an inferior substitute for natural rock.
During the
Renaissance and the
Baroque, visible brick walls were unpopular and the
brickwork was often covered with
plaster. It was only during the mid-
18th century that visible brick walls regained some degree of popularity, as illustrated by the
Dutch Quarter of
Potsdam, for example.
Construction and types
Image:BrickMakingTurnOfTheCentury.jpg thumb|left|Brick making at the beginning of the [[20th century.]]
Hard-burned brick should be used for face work exposed to the weather, and soft brick for filling,
foundation (architecture) foundations, and the like. The mainstay standard US brick measures approximately 8 x 4 x 2.25
inches (203 x 102 x 57
millimetre millimeters), and has a crushing strength of between 1000 and 15000 lbf/in² (7 to 105
megapascals) depending on quality. The modern standard
United Kingdom UK brick size is 215 x 102.5 x 65 millimetres.
A highly impervious and ornamental surface may be laid on brick either by
salt glaze pottery salt glazing, in which salt is added during the burning process, or by the use of a "slip," which is a glaze material into which the bricks are dipped. Subsequent reheating in the kiln fuses the slip into a glazed surface integral with the brick base.
Proportions
Regardless of size, bricks are usually manufactured with the depth equal to half the length (assuming that the brick is laid horizontally), in a 1:2:4
ratio. This allows for several convenient layouts which must necessarily interweave the bricks in any structure, often both at the corners and within the wall depth in order to ensure the greatest possible durability of the structure.
Use
Image:Dixie_Highway_Maitland.jpg thumb|200px|right|A brick section of the old [[Dixie Highway East Florida Connector (
Pre-1945 Florida State Road 3 SR 3) on the west side of
Lake Lily in
Maitland, Florida. It was built in
1915 or
1916, paved over at some point, and restored in
1999.]]
Bricks are typically used for building and
pavement (material) pavement. In the USA, brick pavement was found incapable of withstanding heavy traffic, but it is coming back into use as a method of
traffic calming or as a decorative surface in
pedestrianized zone pedestrian precincts.
Bricks are also used in the
metallurgy and
glass industries for lining
furnaces. They have various uses, especially
refractory bricks such as
silica,
magnesia,
chamotte and neutral (
chromomagnesite)
fire brick refractory bricks. This type of brick must have a series of properties such as good
thermal shock resistance,
refractory refractoriness under load, high melting point, satisfactory
porosity (which can influence several other properties), all of which are high-temperature properties. There is a large refractory brick industry, especially in the
United Kingdom,
Japan and the
U.S.A. inparticular.
See also
{{commons|Bricks}}
*
Brickwork
*
Ceramics
*
Fire brick
*
Masonry
*
Mud brick
External links
-
Brick in 20th-century architecture
Category:Construction
Category:Materials
Category:Building engineering
Category:Bricks
be:ЦÑ?гла
da:Mursten
de:Ziegel
et:Tellis
es:Ladrillo
eo:Briko
fr:Brique (matériau)
it:Mattone
nl:Baksteen
ja:煉瓦
pl:Cegła
pt:Tijolo
ru:Кирпич
fi:Tiili
sv:Tegelsten
zh:磚
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