Concrete block masonry, also known as concrete block. (CMU, namely concete masonry units). It has advantages over masonry. Normally, use of cement, aggregates and water, is to prepare concrete blocks. The cement aggregate ratio in concrete blocks is 1:6. The aggregate used is 60% fine aggregate and 40% coarse aggregate. Their minimum strength is about 3N/mm2. ASTM C-90-91 specifies the compressive strength requirements for concrete blocks. Reit, as trusted and leading Fully automatic block making machine manufacturer in China, always provides prime quality brick making machines for oversea markets. So, please trust me that high quality concrete blocks need through quality machines to achieve it.
In additional, manufacturing concrete blocks shall be according to the required shape and size, and can be solid blocks or hollow blocks. Normally, common dimensions of concrete blocks are about 39cm x 19cm x (30cm or 20cm or 10cm); 2 inch, 4 inch, 6 inch, 8 inch, 10 inch and 12 inch unit configurations.
Types of Concrete Blocks
In accordance with the structure, shape, size and manufacturing process, concrete blocks are mainly divided into two categories. Namely these are solid concrete blocks and hollow concrete blocks.
1. Hollow concrete block
The void area of hollow concrete block is more than 25% of the total area. The solid area of hollow bricks shall be greater than 50%. According to our requirements, the hollow part can be divided into several parts. They are made of lightweight aggregates. They are light and easy to install.
2. Solid Concrete Block
Generally, solid concrete blocks, which are heavy and made of dense aggregate, are used. Actually, they are very sturdy and provide good stability to the structure. Therefore, for large masonry projects, such as load-bearing walls, these solid blocks are as preferred. In addition, they are larger than bricks. Therefore, it takes less time to build concrete masonry than brick masonry.
How Concrete Blocks Usually Made
Concrete blocks or cement bricks are building materials used for building walls. Sometimes we call it as concrete block (CMU). Concrete block is one of the prefabricated concrete products used in construction. Prefabrication means that form and hardening of the blocks is before arriving at the construction site. There are various concrete blocks, with one or more hollow cavities, and the sides can be smooth or designed. These blocks are built into walls with concrete mortar.
The first hollow concrete block was designed by Harmon S. Palmer in America in 1890. After 10 years of research and experiment, he obtained a patent for this design in 1900. Palmer’s building blocks are 8*10*30 inches in size and weigh to move by the crane normally.
The manufacturing process of concrete bricks includes four steps: mixing, forming, curing and blocking. Some concrete plants only produce concrete blocks, while others produce various prefabricated products, such as blocks, pavers, decorative pieces, such as lawn edging, concrete bricks, etc. With the development of technology, some concrete brick factories can produce 2,000 bricks per hour. However, following the development of advanced technology, we use Semi Automatic Block Making Machine or Fully Automatic Block Making Machine to realize production of bricks in bulk.
Simple methods of bricks made
Often, Factory stores sand and gravel outside in silos and then transported by conveyor belts when needed, and also store cement in silos to prevent moisture. Meanwhile, when mixing starts, sand, gravel and cement come out of the silo through a weighing batcher, which weighs each material. The dried material enters the mixer, where it is mixed for a few minutes.
After mixing, pour the concrete into the bucket conveyor and transport it to the overhead hopper. The mixing cycle starts after the next loading. It is then conveyed at a controlled speed to other hoppers on the block machine. The concrete then drops to the flow rate and is poured into the mold. In the mold, there is an outer mold box containing other mold liners.
The pallet of the blocks is now transferred to an automatic stacker or loader and placed in the curing rack. There are hundreds on each shelf. When the rack is full, roll it onto a set of rails and move it to the curing kiln. This is a room that can accommodate several building blocks at the same time.
The shelf of the curing block is rolled out of the kiln, and the pallet of the block is unloaded and placed on the chain conveyor. Then workers push the blocks away from the steel pallet. And also returning the empty pallet to the block machine, so that it’s easy to receive a new set of formed blocks. If faceted blocks are main blocks as demand, they are first molded into two blocks joined together. Once, two pieces as cured process, they will pass through a diverter, which will strike them with a heavy blade along the part between the two halves.
Modern Production Process About Fully Automatic Block Making Machine
Referring to the working principle of the block forming machine. Actually it is to use slag, stone powder, fly ash, industrial stone, industrial sand, industrial cement and other raw materials, and use appropriate scientific proportion and water mixture. The concrete block making machine adopts high pressure pressing to produce well made hollow blocks and cement blocks. Cement must be used in the block forming machine process. The blocks or bricks through these machine do not require fire to process, so we also called these block making machines as non burning block making machines.