Influence of Raw-Perlite for the manufacture of Solid Bricks and blocks. Use in social housing

Abstract

In the city of San Antonio de los Cobres ሺSACሻ located to the west of the province of Salta, the residents resort to the use of Adobe bricks to build their houses. Such masonry is made by the residents themselves using old building techniques whose principal material is clay. At present, this material turns out to be scarce in the region due to the growing demand. On the other hand, in the vicinity of the town, there are mining plants which extract perlite generating wastes of particles smaller than 150 microns. With a high‐content of residues, raw solid bricks are elaborated with a CINVA‐Ram compacting unit. The aim of the present research work is to analyze the possibility of replacing Adobe bricks with these new bricks. Such analyses will follow tests which comply with IRAM ሺofficial national standards body for the Republic of Argentinaሻ standards, such as compression and flexion resistance, absorption, capillary suction and thermal conductivity tests, in order to compare traditional Adobes bricks with raw‐perlite bricks fabricated from perlite residues. It is concluded that the obtained results are more favorable for raw‐perlite bricks as, for example, they show a compression resistance equal to 3 MPa compared to that of Adobe bricks of 1 MPa.