Development and Characterization of Rice Husk Insulating Bricks from Two Selected Deposits in Ekiti State, Nigeria

In this work, the suitability of using Kaolin from two selected deposit sites in Ekiti state (Ijero and Ikere), Rice husk, and plastic clay to produce insulating firebrick was experimentally investigated and the optimal ratio of these constituents was determined. Brick samples of different compositions were produced from the two kaolin samples and fired to a temperature of 1200C. . The surviving samples gave the following limits of results - shrinkage 0.51 % - 1.3 %, apparent porosity 13.28 % - 92.00 %, bulk density 1.6g/cm3 9.5g/cm3, apparent density 0.1g/cm3 14.3g/cm3, and thermal conductivity 0.005W/mK - 0.117W/mK. The crushing strength of Ijero firebricks ranges from 0.0. KN to 121KN and Ikere from 0.00KN to 15KN, the average compressive strength of the produced brick is 23.5 KN/mm2. The results showed that they all had good insulating characteristics, and showed good level of refractoriness.