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Manufacturing process of bricks

Short answer

Burnt clay bricks are made by preparing clay (weathering, tempering), moulding into shape (hand or machine), drying green bricks for 1–3 weeks, and burning at 900–1100 °C in clamps or kilns (e.g. Bull's trench, zigzag), followed by slow cooling.

Describe the manufacturing process of (local burnt/fired clay) bricks, with a flow diagram where required.

Burnt clay bricks are manufactured in four steps.

 Clay preparation -> Moulding -> Drying -> Burning
 (dig, weather,      (hand or    (in air    (clamp or
  temper)             machine)    sheds)     kiln)
  1. Preparation of clay: the top soil is removed and clay is dug out, cleaned of stones and roots, weathered for some weeks and then tempered with water into a uniform plastic mass.
  2. Moulding: the clay is pressed into wooden or steel moulds by hand (ground or table moulding) or by machine (stiff-plastic or wire-cut).
  3. Drying: green bricks are stacked in the open or under shade for 1 to 3 weeks until their moisture is below about 2%. This prevents cracking in the kiln.
  4. Burning: done in clamps (temporary) or kilns such as the Bull's trench, Hoffman or zigzag kiln at 900-1100 °C. Dehydration, oxidation and vitrification take place and the bricks harden.

Finally, the bricks are cooled slowly, sorted and stacked.

✓ Answer checked by Claude Opus 5.5 (high effort)

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