As a vital local building material for construction projects, fired bricks and blocks bear high requirements for safety, durability and dimensional stability. Ancient brick-making crafts emphasized elaborate raw material treatment and slow curing, and the traditional principle of "70% raw material, 30% firing" is still applicable to modern tunnel kiln production. Long-term quality sampling data shows that over 70% of fired brick quality problems are caused by non-standard raw material processing and unscientific process control, rather than equipment failure. This article focuses on production process optimization, sorting out six key quality defects in fired brick production, and shares professional process improvement schemes for brick manufacturers to stabilize product quality and reduce defective rate.
1. Fix Size Deviation via Raw Material and Equipment Optimization
Unqualified brick size deviation is mainly caused by disordered raw material particle gradation and insufficient aging, which leads to unstable clay plasticity and irregular molding. Simple equipment adjustment cannot solve the fundamental problem.
Optimization Measures: Implement raw material grading screening to unify particle specification. Build matched aging warehouses to ensure at least 7-day raw material aging, fully release clay plasticity. Carry out comprehensive plasticity analysis of raw materials, and customize the brick machine extrusion outlet size to match the raw material shrinkage characteristics, realizing precise size control of finished bricks.
2. Eliminate Edge and Corner Cracks by Optimizing Molding Parameters
Coarse raw material particles and low molding moisture increase extrusion resistance, resulting in edge corner damage and cracks during brick molding. This defect can be completely eliminated by fine adjustment of crushing and molding parameters.
Optimization Measures: Upgrade raw material crushing fineness by reducing sieve hole size. Calibrate high-speed roller press gap to 3mm to ensure uniform crushing. Fine-tune raw material moisture content to reduce extrusion resistance, making mud strip molding smooth and complete without cracks.
3. Solve Rib and Wall Horizontal Cracks with Intelligent Drying Control
Horizontal cracks on brick ribs and walls are mainly drying-induced defects. Inconsistent shrinkage of coarse and fine particles and unreasonable drying temperature and speed are the two core causes. Reasonable drying process is the key to crack-free brick blanks.
Optimization Measures: Optimize raw material gradation to coordinate particle shrinkage rate. Adopt constant-temperature drying mode: control blank inlet temperature at 40℃ and finished brick outlet temperature at 110℃. Adjust drying fan speed and drying duration in real time according to kiln internal humidity and temperature, to avoid surface rapid drying and internal dampness.
4. Prevent Underfired Bricks by Sealing and Sintering Pressure Balance
Underfired bricks at the bottom of tunnel kiln cars are caused by cold air leakage and unbalanced kiln pressure and temperature, which leads to insufficient local firing temperature and unqualified brick strength.
Optimization Measures: Regularly maintain kiln car sealing system, ensure tight sand seal and sufficient sealing sand to block cold air leakage. Adjust the positive and negative pressure balance of each temperature zone in the tunnel kiln to eliminate upper and lower temperature difference of brick stacks. Optimize raw material heat matching and strictly abide by fixed firing parameters, avoiding insufficient firing and heat preservation for output pursuit.
5. Avoid Overfired Burst Bricks via Heat Value and Stacking Optimization
Brick bursting and deformation are mainly caused by excessive raw material heat value, dense stacking and over-long high-temperature firing. Reasonable heat matching and stacking process can completely avoid overfired defects.
Optimization Measures: Precisely calculate raw material internal heat proportion to avoid excessive heat accumulation. Optimize brick blank stacking density and reserve uniform heat dissipation gaps. Standardize firing zone range and time to prevent overheating and deformation of bricks in the middle and upper layers of stacks.
6. Improve Weathering Resistance with Standardized Raw Material Preprocessing
Poor weathering resistance is a hidden quality hazard of fired bricks, mainly due to omitted raw material homogenization and aging procedures, resulting in incomplete firing reaction and poor product durability.
Optimization Measures: Standardize raw material preprocessing procedures, implement full homogenization and aging treatment for all raw materials. Appropriately increase firing temperature to promote sufficient solid-liquid phase synthesis of raw material particles. Improve crushing fineness of low-quality raw materials to ensure overall uniform sintering of brick blanks.
Production Optimization Summary: High-quality fired brick production depends on standardized raw material preprocessing, refined molding parameter control, precise drying and firing management. Adhering to the principle of raw material priority and process standardization can effectively reduce defective rate and improve overall product qualification rate.