UFPA researchers create sustainable bricks made with marajoara clay and waste from the mining industry

UFPA researchers create sustainable bricks made with marajoara clay and waste from the mining industry | For

1 of 2 Researchers create sustainable brick in Pará. — Photo: Disclosure

Researchers create sustainable brick in Pará. — Photo: Disclosure

Researchers from the Federal University of Pará (UFPA) created a new prototype of ecological bricks from marajoara clay and kaolin waste, a byproduct of the mining industry.

The objective is to offer the civil industry market low-cost materials that reduce the amount of waste accumulated in the Amazon.

The use of these materials contributes to reducing the extraction of natural resources and the emission of polluting gases associated with conventional brick production.

Architect Fabio Brito and materials engineer Taiana Matos were responsible for developing the product, with the support of professors Alisson Clay Silva and Verônica Scarpini, from the Postgraduate Program in Materials Science and Engineering.

The researchers highlight that ecological bricks have technical characteristics that make them an advantageous choice in civil construction, such as having a unique composition that provides good mechanical resistance and double the volume.

2 of 2 Architect Fabio Brito and materials engineer Taiana Matos. — Photo: Disclosure

Architect Fabio Brito and materials engineer Taiana Matos. — Photo: Disclosure

Production requires less energy compared to traditional bricks, contributing to reducing carbon emissions from civil construction.

The researchers inserted kaolin waste into the ceramic mass (clay) and used only 25% of the 100% clay fraction.

Furthermore, the insertion of residue was able to reduce the amount of mass applied. The results of the sustainable product showed superior resistance.

Conventional brick requires a resistance of 2 megapascals (MPa), which is a unit of pressure measurement used to express the compressive strength of the material, while the brick studied in the laboratory resisted up to 12 MPa. Which represents 6 times greater resistance.

According to the standard for making common bricks, a normal material has a resistance that varies from 1.5 to 4.0 Mpa. The prototype in the laboratory was able to withstand mechanical stress of up to 12 Mpa. Significant resistance compared to what is manufactured on the market.