Abstract

The raw material soil of Al-Swera factory quarry (quarry soil and mixture) which is used for building brick industry were tested mineralogically, geochemically and geotechnically. Mineral components of soil characterizes by Clay minerals (Palygoriskite and chlorite), and non-clay minerals such calcite, quratz, feldspar, gypsum and halite. The raw material is deficient with SiO₂, Al₂O_3, K₂O, Fe₂O₃and MgO; while enrichment in CaO. Loss on ignition (L.O.I.) and Na₂O are in suitable level and appear to be concordant with the standard. The quarry soil characterized by high plasticity clayey soil of 30.49 plastic index; whereas, the mixture considered a clayey soil have low plasticity of 7.7 plastic index. For improving the chemical and physical properties of the raw material, Alumina-silicate minerals rich in K2O, Fe2O3 and MgO are recommended as additive material to the main mixture. Also grain size analyses show the decreasing of sand and clay and increasing the silt ratio in both quarry soil and mixture; this case causes decreasing the strength of brick during molding and after firing. Plasticity index (P.I) value of quarry soil is 30.49 referring high plastic clayey soil, whereas the plasticity index (P.I) value of the mixture is 7.7 indicating a clayey soil having low plasticity.

Key words: Geochemistry, liquid limit, plastic limit, raw materials, building bricks.