Stabilized And Compressed Laterite Soil Bricks

Laterite is a residual ferruginous rock, commonly found in tropical regions and has close genetic association with bauxite. The term 'laterite' was originally used for highly ferruginous deposits first observed in Malabar Region of coastal Kerala and Dakshina Kannada and other parts of Karnataka. It is a highly weathered material, rich in secondary oxides of iron, aluminium or both. It is either hard or capable of hardening on exposure to moisture and drying. Laterite and bauxite show a tendency to occur together. Aluminous laterites and ferruginous bauxites are quite common. The most common impurity in both is silica. Laterite gradually passes into bauxite with decrease in iron oxide and increase in aluminium oxide [6]. The laterite deposits may be described on the basis of the dominant extractable minerals in it: (i) aluminous laterite (bauxite), (ii) ferruginous laterite (iron ore), (iii) manganiferous laterite (manganese ore), (iv) nickeliferous laterite (nickel ore), and (v) chromiferous laterite (chrome ore). Laterite with Fe O :Al O ratio more than 1, and SiO :Fe O ratio less than 2 3 2 3 2 2 3 1.33 is termed as ferruginous laterite while that having Fe O :Al O ratio less than 1 and SiO :Al O ratio less than 2 3 2 3 2 2 3 1.33 is termed as aluminous laterite. Laterite can be considered as polymetallic ore as it is not only the essential repository for aluminium, but also a source of iron, manganese, nickel, and chromium. Further, it is the home to trace several elements like gallium and vanadium which can be extracted as by-products [6] . The construction cost can also be considerably decreased by selecting local materials, including local soils for the production of construction materials [9] . Lime and Fly ash in combination can often be used successfully in stabilizing building blocks [1, 11] . LF stabilization is often appropriate for stabilizing building materials. Fly ash is a pozzolanic material; it has been successfully used with granular and fine grained materials to improve soil characteristics [7, 10] . Lime has been widely used either as a modifier for clayey soil or as a binder. When clayey soils with high plasticity are treated with lime, the plasticity index is decreased and soil becomes friable and easy to be pulverized, having less affinity with water. Lime also imports some binding action