What is chamotte brick and what is it for?

If you are going to independently lay down an oven or a fireplace in your country house, then you know about the complexity of this process without our instructions. Unfortunately, newcomers do not always realize that even with the choice of material for such responsible work, problems can arise. For example, do you know what a fireclay brick is and why does it need a stove?

For domestic ovens use special alumina varieties of it, produced from a special mixture of quartz and refractory clay. The latter is better known as "chamotte clay". It is this circumstance that gave the name to the material obtained.

By the way, fireclay brick contains up to 70% of such clay, which determines its high performance properties. The process of its firing occurs at extremely high operating temperatures, and for greater accuracy, most commonly used are computer-controlled mechanisms.

The fact is that with the slightest deviation in the direction of increasing degrees (which often occurs in semi-artisan enterprises), chamotte bricks are covered with a specific glassy film, which does not make it possible to make a normal masonry, since the binder solution is not fixed on it. Because of its specific color, such a waste is called "iron ore". Do not think that it is useless: because of the film itself, it has excellent waterproof properties, which is why it was loved by the builders who laid out the basement floors of this material .

Normal fireclay bricks differ in saturated straw-yellow color, density of structure, and also with a specific granular structure. It is not only extremely refractory (withstanding more than 1000 degrees Celsius), but it can also resist aggressive chemical environments for a long time.

Among other things, its characteristic feature is the ability to accumulate the resulting heat. It is because of this that the stoves in the clutch used this type of brick, they warm up more slowly, but they provide an even warming up of the room and a high temperature stability in it. This is very important, since the main disadvantage of furnace heating is just the day's daily leaps.

Therefore, fireclay bricks, whose characteristics allow its use in the most difficult places, must have an ideal quality. His choice should be approached with the greatest possible responsibility. Knock on the material being purchased: when striking, a specific sound, similar to a metallic sound, should be heard. If you hit it, then the brick of this kind should split into dense large pieces. In the case when the "refractory" material does not correspond to these requirements, it is worthwhile to think about its origin and to refuse to purchase.

The fact is that the lack of basic quality indicators indicates a bad roasting, when the desired temperature was not reached in the oven. The danger of such products in its hygroscopicity, which exceeds that even for ordinary bricks. If you build a stove from such material, then in a couple of years it might just fall apart.

Pay attention to the weight of fireclay bricks: it should be higher than that of a conventional ceramic variety. It can be made from 2.4 to 6 kg, depending on the type and size of the material.