Baking-free Bricks Prepared from the Muck and Slag Cement
Background: Baking-free bricks take the advantages of saving energy and soil, environmentally friendly and sustainable development. It is interesting to prepare baking-free muck bricks using the muck as the main raw materials by the curing process under the atmosphere environment. Methods: The muck baking-free bricks were analysed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The roles of the ratio of the slag cement to muck on the compressive strength, water absorption, softening coefficient, stability of the freeze-thaw cycles and stability of the drying and watering cycles of the muck bricks have been investigated. Results: The compressive strength and softening coefficient of the muck bricks are the highest with the value of 15.81 MPa and 0.80, respectively, the water absorption and mass loss ratio are the lowest with the value of 8.12% and 0.61%, respectively when the ratio of the slag cement to muck is 1: 4. Hydration products are formed by the hydration reaction resulting in the increase of the density and compressive strength of the muck baking-free bricks. Conclusion: Muck baking-free bricks with good physical performance have been prepared using slag cement as the cementing materials for the consolidation of muck. The obtained baking-free bricks exhibit high mechanical performance.