Civil Engineering Department

University of Duhok
College of Engineering
2019-2020

Sand lime bricks.

Raw material storage, dosing, and mixing

Sand lime bricks consist of the two raw materials sand and lime only. For the
manufacturing process, water is required in addition. The raw materials that are
mostly supplied from local extraction places are stored separately in raw material
silos. On the way to the silos, the sand passes a screening station to separate
oversize material.

Masa sand lime brick making plants are designed to use at least two different types
of sand. The advantage for the customers is that the product quality can directly be
influenced by a specific mixture of the different types of sand.

The raw materials sand, lime, and water are exactly dosed and weighed in individual
scales and fed into the intensive mixer. In the mixing process, a homogeneous and
highly disperse sand lime compound is generated.

The complete automatic process is controlled and monitored via the Masa mixing
plant control system .
Reactor and chemical reaction

By means of transport devices (e.g. belt conveyors and bucket

conveyors), the sand lime compound is fed into the reactor .
The number of reactors depends on the number of presses.
Typically, one reactor per press is used. Advantage: With the
help of the Masa mixing plant control system, each press is
always supplied with an optimum sand lime compound, also
in case of different products.

Inside the reactor, the lime is turned to calcium hydroxide by

means of a chemical reaction that is triggered when water is
added. This process is completed after approx. two hours, and processing of the sand lime
compound can be continued in the press.

Masa double shaft mixer

Between the reactor and the press, there is a double shaft

mixer. To provide the double shaft mixer and the press with
constant quantities of sand lime compound, the reactor
outlet is equipped with a special discharge system
developed by Masa. With the help of the Masa press
control system, the quantity of the sand lime compound is
adapted to the manufacturing process.

For an optimum moisture content for pressing, an automatic

dosing device adds water to the double shaft mixer. All
give-over points are particularly tight to avoid the development of dust.
Hydraulic sand lime brick press Masa HDP

The heart of a sand lime brick making plant undoubtedly is

the Masa press, eg. type HDP 800. Masa can offer
different press types for different capacity requirements.

In fully automatic hydraulic presses, the sand lime

compound is pressed to bricks. The Masa press control
system provides for a uniform compaction of the sand lime
compound until the required final height and density of the
products is reached.

Different moulding tools enable the

manufacture of different brick sizes. Depending on the type
of tool, it is possible to manufacture perforated or solid
bricks with or without tongue and groove or holes for
handling or chamfers.

A brick placing automat takes the fresh bricks from the

press and smoothly places them on a hardening car. The
Masa press control system enables a precise and space-
saving loading of the hardening cars so as to make an
optimum use of the autoclave capacity.

Hardening car transport from the press to the autoclaves

When the hardening car has been loaded completely, it is moved to a transport
platform via a rail track system. Depending on the factory capacity, up to 8 hardening
cars can be moved so that loading and unloading of the autoclaves can be carried
out quickly.
Autoclaves/steam boiler

The sand lime bricks receive their final strength by means of hardening under steam
pressure in special, sealed pressure vessels, the autoclaves.

The steam pressure is approx. 12 bar, the temperature approx. 192° C.

The hardening procedure is precisely defined. The hardening time depends on the
density and size of the sand lime bricks. Usually, it is between 4 and 8 hours.

The various autoclaving steps can individually be determined in the Masa autoclave

control system . The complete hardening process runs off automatically and is
continuously recorded.

The steam for the hardening process in the autoclaves is generated in a steam boiler
plant. Usually, high-capacity steam boilers that are operated with gas or oil are used
for the steam generation.

Packaging

When the hardening process has been completed, the sand lime bricks are ready for
use.

From the transport platform, the hardened sand lime bricks are transported to the
packaging plant on the hardening cars via a rail track system. To guarantee a fast
discharge of the autoclaves, a complete autoclave filling can be stored intermediately
in front of the packaging plant.

The Masa cuber takes the sand lime bricks off the hardening car and places them on
transport pallets.
Masa recommend to package the finished products in that way that they are
protected from dirt and moisture before they are removed from the factory.
Depending on the plant concept, this packaging process can be carried out
automatically or semi-automatically.

For a safe transport and storage of the filled transport pallets, these have to be
bundled, preferably with plastic straps.

Other individual packaging concepts, e.g. with stretch film or shrink-wrapping plants,
can be integrated into the packaging line as per customer requirements.

Cleaning of the hardening cars

As soon as the Masa cuber has taken the hardened sand lime bricks off the
hardening cars, the latter are cleaned. The cleaning device consists of a rotating
brush and an oscillating scraper.

The empty car platform returns the cleaned hardening cars to the sand lime brick
presses where they can be loaded with fresh bricks again.
Sand lime bricks are popularly used in European countries, Australia and African
countries. In India, these bricks are widely used in Kerala state and its usage is
regularly growing.

Materials Used for Sand Lime Bricks

The materials listed below are used for the production of calcium silicate bricks.

 Sand
 Lime
 Water
 Pigment

Sand
Calcium silicate bricks contains high amount of sand is about 88 – 92%. It means the
properties of these bricks depends upon the characteristics of sand used.

So, the sand used shall be well graded and should not contain any impurities like
organic matter, soluble slats etc. the finely divided clay may be present but it is up to
4% only which helps the brick in pressing and provides smoother texture.

Lime
Lime content in calcium silicate bricks varies from 8 to 12%. The lime used shall be
of good quality and high calcium lime.

Water
Clean water should be used for preparing calcium silicate bricks. Sea water or water
containing soluble salts or organic matter more than 0.25% are not suitable.

Pigment
Pigments are generally used to give color to the bricks. They are added to the sand and
lime while mixing.

otal weight of brick contains 0.2 to 3 % of pigment quantity. Different pigments used
to get different colors are tabulated below:
Pigment Color

Carbon black Black, grey

Iron oxide Red, brown

Chromium oxide Green

Ochre yellow