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NewInitiatives:EmergingTechnologies

PromotionofEmergingTechnologiesfor
MassHousingDetailedAnnexures

Home>Solid/HollowConcreteBlockMasonry

Theconcreteblocksinourcountryareinuseformorethan30years.Concreteoffersflexibilityinproduction
which is not there in brick making. Also investment needed by way of land and capital is much less for the
concrete block manufacture compared to the brick maker. Concrete blocks are produced in large variety of
sizeseithersolidorhollow,denseorlightweight,aircuredorsteamcured,loadbearingornonloadbearing
canbeproducedmanuallyorwiththehelpofmachines.Hollowblocksaredefinedasthoseblockswhichhave
corewideareagreaterthan25%ofgrossareahavingoneormoreholesopenatbothsides.

Themostcommonlyusedconcreteblockshaveanominallengthof40cm,heightof20cmandnominalwidthof
8,10,15 and 20cms. In addition a wide variety of nonmodular blocks and special shapes are available in
marketfordifferentpurposes.
Materialsforconcreteblocks:

Cement : Ordinary Portland Cement, Rapid hardening Portland cement, PPC, can be used. The partial
replacementofcementbyapozzolanai.e.ricehuskash,flyashetcisalsopermitted.
Aggregate : The maximum particle size of coarser aggregate is 13mm (10mm for hollow blocks). high
proportionoffineaggregatesaretobeavoidedastheyincreasethedensity.

CementAggregateratio:Theproportionofcementaggregatemustbefoundbetrailswithdifferentratiossuch
as1:6,1:8,1:10upto1:16byweightdependingupontheapplicationi.eloadbearingornonloadbearing.

Water cement ratio : Drinking water, should be used. As a simple test for cohesiveness, no excess water
shouldbevisiblewhenalumpofconcreteissqueezedinthehand,butifthesampleisrubbedquicklyona
smoothroundmetalbarortube(2to4cmindia),slightorfilmorpasteshouldbebroughttothesurface.
Production:

Batchingandmixing:Aggregatescanbebatchedbyvolumeorweightbutbyweightismoreaccurate.Cement
should only be batched only by weight or using whole bags of 50 kgs. However, batching by volume using
buckets etc is quite acceptable. The best Mixes are obtained with mechanically operated mixtures however
hand mixing if done should be on level smooth hard surface. Thorough mixing is essential to obtain
cohesiveness.Sinceconcretebeginstosetwithin30to60minutes,onlysomuchconcretemustbepreparedas
canbeusedupbeforethathappens.
Moulding:Concreteblockscanbemouldedbyseveralmethods,rangingfrommanuallytampingtheconcrete
inwoodenorsteelmouldboxestolargescaleproductionwithegglayingmobilemachinesandfullyautomatic
stationerymachines.Theblocksarecompactedbyhydraulicormechanicaltampingmachinesandvibratedfor
few seconds with intervals with complete compactness. The quality of blocks generally increases with the
degreeofmechanization.Theblocksaredemouldedimmediatelyaftercompaction.
Curing:

Theblocksarelefttosetandhardenfor24hoursandthenstackedinlayers.Curingisdonefor21daysby

waterspray.Steamcuringmayberesortedforquickerstrengthdevelopment.
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4/19/2017 BMTPC
waterspray.Steamcuringmayberesortedforquickerstrengthdevelopment.

SolidandHollowblockspossessseveraladvantagessuchaseconomy,pleasingappearance,improvethermal
comfortandreducedselfweight.

TheBISprescribesaminimumstrengthof20kg/cm2forconcreteblocks.

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