Behaviour of low-temperature fired laterite bricks under uniaxial compressive loading

It has been shown previously that the properties of some laterite building bricks abundant in tropical areas can be improved by stabilization through heat at low temperatures. Further investigations based on a series of laboratory tests were carried out on these brick specimens subjected to uniaxial compressive loading at room temperature. The characteristics of the stress-strain relationship are presented for predicting brick performance. When subjected to deformation, they behaved nonlinear plastic-elastic-plastic. They were found to exhibit linear elasticity in a domain where strain varied between 2 and 5% according to the type. These values of strain were found to be higher than the maximum elastic strain (0.5%) observed for many ceramics. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.