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Jason Learned from Thailand
  • Jason wrote:

    Hello,

    I really appreciate what you guys are doing and would like to help in the future. My name is Jason Learned and to tell you a little of my background I am a business owner as well as having years of experience in building. I am scheduled to start work with a green building company located in Thailand the beginning of September and then will help launch their aquaponics system in the EU.

    The builder part of me is interested in your compressed earth bricks as well as your overall goal of a self replicating high industrial self sustaining society.

    I have thought about how to strengthen your bricks. I am sure you get many suggestions and maybe someone has mentioned this to you already, but it seems that magnetron tubes do not seem that complicated and should be able to be made with your equipment.

    A magnetron furnace should be able to fire your CEB's in a very short time to real bricks-- at least in theory. I know they make such devices for fusing glass and pottery, why not bricks? Do you think the energy requirements of such a device would be cost prohibitive in turning your CEB's to brick? I appreciate your time and your efforts and would love to help in the future if I can.

    On another note, my parents bought 80 acres in Mountain Grove MO. I don't know how close that is to you but maybe there would be a way to work together there as well.

    Best regards,

    Jason
     
  • 2 Comments sorted by
  • Here are some formulas for making a re-agglomerated stone brick.

    The
    Egyptian method uses weathered limestone as a base. If you were to get
    spent limestone from a cement plant this should work as the base
    material.

    Their method was to put into a mixer:
    One part sodium carbonate
    two parts lime
    three parts kaolin.
    Mix with water and add 114 parts spent limestone
    After
    two days add 1/2 part magnesium chloride mix and when the mixture has
    evaporated enough water to form a semi-dry paste that will hold its
    shape when squeezed then press in CEB press.

    Easier method but more caustic.

    This
    requires a reactive silica-alumina clay that has been calcined from
    1200-1500˚F. Metakaolin MK-750 is one such. This is reacted with the
    geopolymer solution that is one part lye at 10-14Moles to two and a half
    parts sodium silicate at 2.1 molar ratio
    or
    Potassium silicate at a 1.23 molar ratio with the reactive clay

    This
    should be between 5-15% of the total mix the rest being your filler. If
    you were to use a high silica sand the resulting bricks would look like
    quartzite.  However the mixture would have to be increased to 22% of
    the mix to make sure there were no pores for frost problems and the
    mixing time would have to be 16 minutes to ensure optimal strength.

    Fly
    ash Type F can be used however you will have to grind to the
    appropriate sizes and it cannot be from a fluid bed type furnace. If you
    have a source contact me for more information as to how to utilize.

    With
    all of these geopolymer cements you want to keep your water content to a
    minimum as the evaporation will leave some pores and too many will
    weaken the structure. Using a press the water content can be lowered to
    7%

    Another thing is your mortars. Using Portland cement based
    mortars is not good in the long run for your buildings. Portland cement
    is water proof so it forces the waters (i.e. vapor, wicking action,
    condensation, etc.) in the walls to go through the bricks. This can
    cause spalding.

     A geopolymer mortar would be:  three parts sand, one part lime, and one part reactive clay.

    These
    are the mortars found in castles one thousand years old and have a
    similar composition to the better quality Roman mortars.
     

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