Adaptation of the Proctor Standard test to obtain the optimum humidity in the production of Compressed Earth Blocks (CEB)

Abstract

In this work, the adaptation of the Proctor Standard test is developed to obtain the optimum humidity for the manufacture of CEB. In the adaptation, the test method is modified in order to emulate the action of the press, generating a quasi-static load of a certain value. It is intented to achieve a correlation between the standardized test and what happens in the block molding press. From the adapted test, an optimal average humidity was obtained for both mixture 20% higher than that obtained by means of the standard Proctor test; the average dry density decreases by 7 % between the adapted and the standard and a better resistance to breakage of the block is obtained. This expresses better condition in demoulding and in the final quality of the blocks.