Use of waste marble powder in brick industry

The usability of waste marble dust as an additive material in industrial brick were investigated. Marble wastes were collected from marble deposits which are located at Southwest of Turkey and industrial brick mortar was obtained from a brick company in Istanbul. Waste marble dust and brick mortar were prepared for various processes of industrial brick investigation. Waste material in different proportions was mixed with industrial brick mortar starting amount of 0 wt.% up to 80 wt.%. in 41 x 8 x 8 mm rectangular prisms for testing of physico-mechanical properties of the samples having different marble dust composition. These prepared prisms were pressed and sintered at three different temperatures 900, 1000 and 1100 degrees C. Flexural strengths of the test samples were given at three different temperature values of 900, 1000 and 1100 degrees C. Archimedes water displacement test was conducted with different water absorption percentage values at 900, 1000 and 1100 degrees C temperatures. XRD analyses have been carried out for the additives which contain mainly calcite and small amount of dolomite minerals. It was found that the amount of marble dust additive had positive effect on the physical, chemical and mechanical strength of the produced industrial brick. With increasing demands of the construction industry, bricks quality and cost become more important day by day in Turkey. In addition, the usage of marble wastes for the production of industrial bricks has significant important role on the recycling waste marble powder in the brick production along with a great contributions to economy and ecology of the country. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.