In today’s question of the month we talk about bricks and challenges of manufacturing. During last year we wrote several articles on bricks; how to optimize production, how to increase extrusion rates and how to reduce cracking... This month we will talk about brick manufacturing and how to improve the process.
Today we will go over some articles regarding main issues you may find during brick manufacturing processes, but make sure you keep reading our blog in the following weeks, as we will bring new and interesting information about the use of additives in the brick making process.
Reducing breakage and cracks
This is, by far, one of the main problems brick makers face when producing bricks. There are different ways to optimize the process to reduce cracks and breakage. Our colleague Jack Pongdet wrote a very interesting article on how to reduce breakage and rejection of bricks and rooftiles, where he explains the reasons why you may find cracks on bricks and he gives some advice on how to avoid this very common issue.
Bill Daidone wrote a fascinating article on eliminating cracks, where he thoroughly explains how to reduce cracking by improving the process and which are the critical points to look at when we are manufacturing a brick. Understanding the drying process, the type of clay and the brick body are key parameters to take care of when we are trying to deal with a crack issue.
Less water to produce bricks
This is also an interesting topic our British colleague, Jonathan Savage, wrote about in his blog post “Brick and roof tile manufacturing with less water involved” . Water is an extremely valuable resource and reducing the use of it in your process will not only save you money, but also help the planet. Using additives can help reduce water use and increase extrusion at the same time, something that we are also going to go over.
Increasing extrusion
Another challenge for brick makers and something Jonathan Savage also wrote about is increasing extrusion. On his article “Increasing extrusion rate in brick and roof tile manufacturing”, he talks about different ways to optimize extrusion, from mechanics of the extruder to body formulation and using clay conditioners, he explains several options to overcome this challenge for brick producers.
Optimizing drying time
Drying is also a critical point in the manufacturing of a brick. The characteristics of the brick body being dried can contribute to successful drying or cracking and this can help you save or lose a lot of money. To understand better how to improve drying, Bill Daidone wrote this article.
These are some of the challenges brick makers face, but there are many others. We also wrote about topics like consistency, reducing waste and which additive to use that you can read here.
In any case, if you have any other challenge or concern regarding brick manufacturing you can tell us about it here.
We have a long experience on working with different clay additives and we would be happy to help you with any other doubt you may have. So, if you have any specific question for us, click below and we will get in touch with you.
