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Influence of water repellent chemical additive and different curing regimes on

dimensional stability and strength of earth bricks from termite mound-clay

Article  in  Heliyon · January 2019

DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01182

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Received:
18 October 2018
Revised:
Influence of water repellent
7 January 2019
Accepted:
25 January 2019
chemical additive and different
Cite as: Banjo A. Akinyemi,
Adeola Bamidele, Adeoye
curing regimes on dimensional
Oluwanifemi. Influence of
water repellent chemical
additive and different curing
stability and strength of earth
regimes on dimensional
stability and strength of earth
bricks from termite mound-
bricks from termite
clay.
Heliyon 5 (2019) e01182.
doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.
mound-clay
e01182

Banjo A. Akinyemi a,∗, Adeola Bamidele b, Adeoye Oluwanifemi b

a
Farm Structures and Environment Unit, Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Nigeria
b
Civil Engineering Department, Landmark University Omuaran, Nigeria

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (B.A. Akinyemi).

Abstract

This article is focussed on evaluating the effects of water repellent admixture and
different curing regimes on characteristics of clay from termite hills used for
production of earth bricks. Water absorption, thickness swelling and compressive
strength characteristics of the specimens with different compositions of cement,
hydrated lime and water repellent additive subjected to different curing regimes
were measured. The samples were characterised by SEM and FTIR. The least
water absorption was at 3.3% while thickness swelling ranged from 0.78 to 3.21
% for the samples. Saturated curing condition resulted in an average compressive
strength of 35.5 N/mm2, cured curing recorded an average value of 32.9 N/mm2
while dry curing condition produced an average compressive strength of 26.9 N/
mm2 and the wet curing condition resulted in 25 N/mm2. SEM characterisation
of sample containing 70% termite soil, 30% cement and 0.05 Hydropruf
indicated fewer voids, regular and smooth appearance in comparison with others.
FTIR analysis showed distinctive broad bands at wave numbers of 3439 cm
1

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for O-H stretching, and 1033.83e1008.80 cm
1 for OeH bending for all samples
tested. The best performing composition in terms of the dimensional stability test
was 70% termite mound clay, 10% cement, 20% hydrated lime and 0.05
Hydropruf additive. The highest mechanical strength was from composition of
70% termite mound clay, 30% cement, no hydrated lime and 0.05 Hydropruf
additive. It is concluded that saturated and cured method showed better
performance than the wet and dry curing regimes. The termite secretions
similarly improved the clay composition in conjunction with cement, lime and
chemical admixture in the internal structure of the bricks.

Keywords: Materials science, Civil engineering

1. Introduction
Reducing energy consumption of structures is the best pragmatic way of reducing
greenhouse gas emissions. Construction industries account for over 40% of global en-
ergy consumption [1]. Therefore in order to reduce this energy consumption, the use
of viable and environment friendly materials for the building sector will reduce the
impact of various structures on the environment. Earth has been tested over many
generations and has been accepted universally because it provided many sustainable
and financial values that allow it to be an essential choice as a material for the con-
struction sector [2]. Clay soil is a type of soil consisting majorly of closely packed
grains and combines one or more clay minerals with interconnected properties; it is
usually mouldable when wet [3]. A lot of interest has been shown in its use and there-
fore studies had been done on the use of fired or unfired clay bricks in both developed
and developing countries. Oti et al [4] formulated unfired clay bricks from powdered
blast furnace slag using a caustic chemical and concluded that the physical tests and
compressive test were within acceptable standards, Miqueleiz et al [5] studied the use
of alumina filler material and coal ash waste for the production of unfired clay bricks
with results showing that the blended admixture with lime improved the strength of
the bricks, El-Mahllawy and Kandeel [6] investigated the properties of modified un-
fired montmorillonitic clay bricks by subjecting it to various curing systems and re-
ported that the results were improved through wet curing. Fired clay bricks have also
been investigated by some authors, among who are Sutcu et al [7], Mounir et al [8],
Ngon et al [9] and Velasco [10]. Termite clay is obtained from anthills, while termite
mound is a heap of soil made by ants similar to a small hill. Termites usually target
unprotected wooden structures and may remain hidden for a very long term because
of underground tunnels until massive destruction had been accomplished on the
wooden structures. Sometimes, they go beyond destroying wood, they may also spoil
textiles, cellulose papers among other items. Some studies had reported that termite
clay is a better material than the ordinary clay because it is made of clay whose

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plasticity and water resistance property have further been improved upon by the
secretion from the termite therefore its utilization for moulding earth brick is encour-
aged [11,12]. This type of clay has been reported to possess excellent engineering
properties more than ordinary clay in dam construction [13]. The clay from the
termite hill is able to sustain a permanent structure after moulding because of its re-
silience; it has fewer tendency of cracking in comparison with conventional clay. Be-
side these advantages, it is a poor conductor with less solar radiation flow and
temperature variation in an enclosed environment when compared with conventional
clay [11]. Termite mounds are a common occurrence in most part of the world but are
unwanted on lands, most especially in the vicinity of structures. The activities of ter-
mites around wooden structures are undesirable; as a result, termite mounds in close
proximity to these structures must be broken down and properly disposed of in order
to prevent recurrence [14]. This detested material has found very useful applications
as a choice material for silo construction because it is cheap and available in the envi-
ronment [15,16]. It has been utilised for bricks production [17] as well as walling ma-
terials [18] and in dam construction [13] among others. Some studies had been
concluded on the density of termite mound occurrence in some sub-Saharan Africa
countries and results show that huge numbers of termite mound counts were observed
within a small sample sized portion of land utilised for the experiments [19,20]. This
translates to its relative abundance and availability in sufficient quantities for sus-
tained brick production if utilised. However, most research interests have been
focused on improving their strength and the quality of the bricks through stabilization
with cement, lime and various agricultural wastes materials; inclusion of natural fi-
bres and burning (fired) [2,21,22]. The major inherent problem reported by most of
these studies is the problem of moisture ingress into such structures due to varying
environmental conditions in the tropics where they are predominantly used. Not
much has been reported on the improvement of the termite clay material either to
eliminate this challenge or mitigate its effect. In order to obtain an environment
friendly material, it is important to develop materials with improved properties so
as to be assured of a longer usefulness and to reduce repair costs. One of the major
problem rural structures faces is moisture ingress which affects their durability as
well as their properties. The prospects of utilising water repellent chemical admixture
used in conventional concrete and mortar as an additive in the termite mound clay
brick material are therefore studied in this research. Similarly, the roles of the choice
of curing media in improving the compressive strength of bricks were also evaluated.

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Raw materials
Portland cement Type 1 with class strength of 32.5 was used and hydrated lime in
powder form (Table 1 shows the composition) also which is widely accepted for

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Table 1. Hydrated lime chemical composition.

Composition (%)

Loss of ignition 24.2

CaO 68.7
SO3 0.1
CO2 4.8
MgO 0.3
Fe2O3 þ Al2O3 0.7

the production of earth bricks [23]. Termite mound clay (TMC) was excavated from
a cluster of mounds located within the University environment. Hydropuf WP100
which is silane/siloxane based powdery water repellent admixture was similarly
used. It is a high-performance general waterproofing admixture for concrete and
plaster.

2.2. Manufacture of bricks

After its extraction, TMC was dried through spreading in open air within the labo-
ratory at a temperature of 27  C. Milling follows which involves breaking large
pieces of TMC using a ball milling machine. After the grinding, sieving was done
using a sieve having a diameter of 5e10 mm. Particle size analysis was performed
and shown in Table 2. The next step involved measurement of the constituents based
on the composition design shown in Table 3. Manual mixing was done in order to
homogenize the mixture of TMC, hydrated lime, cement and Hydropruf additive.
Water was added to the mixture progressively which is a standard technique of
manufacturing earth bricks. The wet composition was poured into a mould of 50
 50  50 mm and manually pressed for compression. The top of each mould

Table 2. Properties of termite mound clay.

Property value (%)

Passing sieve 0.08 mm 57

Clay content 58
Silt content 23
Sand content 21
Liquid limit 30.5
Plastic limit 25.4
Plasticity index 5.1
Moisture content 3.53
Specific gravity 2.0

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Table 3. Earth brick compositions.

Sample codes Termite soil Cement Lime Hydropruf

(% mass) (% by mass) (% by mass) (kg/m3)

I 100 - - 0.05
II 70 30 0 0.05
III 70 20 10 0.05
IV 70 10 20 0.05
V 70 0 30 0.05
VI 100 - - -
VII 70 30 0 -
VIII 70 20 10 -
IX 70 10 20 -
X 70 0 30 -

was smoothened and levelled with a hand trowel and the outside surfaces cleaned.
The moulds and their contents were left in the laboratory. After 7 days in the labo-
ratory at 25  C, they were demoulded and curing was done based on the adopted
curing regime. A total of 3 replicates were produced for each of the 4 curing regimes
with 10 different compositions which give a total of 120 samples. The curing re-
gimes used were: dry, wet, cured and saturated:

 Dry: Specimens were dried in ambient conditions at 25  C. Bricks were stacked

on a wooden bench within the laboratory with an allowance of 10 mm between
each stack. This allowed the specimens to dry naturally for a minimum of 28
days. The moisture content of typical bricks measured by oven drying at 150

C after 28 days, was found to be in the range of 0.8e1.6%.
 Wet: Specimens were submerged in a water tank for only 24 h at 22  C before
testing. The least spacing of 30 mm was maintained among the samples while
the water in the tank was kept at an height of 80 mm above the highest sample.
The chosen duration allowed bricks to reach equilibrium in water.
 Cured: Specimens were placed in a water tank for 24 h 22  C, in order to simu-
late the wet conditioned specimens. Later, the samples were taken out from the
tank and wrapped with polyethylene plastic which was kept in a moist condition
by a sprinkling of water of 22  C at an interval of 5 hours. The covering was kept
in this moist condition for 28 days. After 28 days, the samples were dried in a
ventilated oven at 150  C until successive difference in weight of 1 was at-
tained, allowed to cool down and tested.
 Saturated: Samples were immersed in a water tank of 22  C for up to 28 days.
The same specifications used for the wet conditioned samples were maintained.
Compressive testing was performed after 28 days.

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2.3. Water absorption and thickness swelling

The water absorption test was done in accordance with TS EN 771 [24]. 30 samples
of 10 mm  50 mm  120 mm were produced for these tests comprising of three
replicates per composition. After 7 days in the laboratory at 25  C, they were cured,
dried in the oven at 150  C until constant weight was achieved. Then, the samples
were placed in a curing tank for 24 hours at 22  C until constant weight was noticed.
Thereafter, they were removed and excess moisture was removed by wiping them
with a dry cloth and the mass of the samples were measured using the electronic
weighing balance. The water absorption was calculated as a percentage. The thick-
ness of each sample was measured after the oven drying using a vernier calliper. The
test was used to evaluate the influence of water on the dimensional stability of the
samples.

2.4. Compressive strength test

Compressive tests were conducted on the 20 samples of earth bricks after 28 days
using the Universal Testing Machine according to the curing age specified within
the adopted curing regime for this experiment. The test was performed in accordance
with BS 5628 standard [25].

2.5. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Fourier-transform

infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)
ASPEX Personal SEM (PSEM) was used for the micrograph observation of frac-
tured samples of X, Y and Z. The fracture surface of each specimen was sputter-
coated with a thin layer of palladium for the conductive purpose. An acceleration
voltage of 16 keV was used to observe the fracture surface of the specimens.
FTIR spectra were used to determine the functional groups of earth bricks using a
Shimadzu FTIR- 8400S spectrophotometer. The spectra for the specimens were re-
corded by grinding the specimens to powder, mixing the powder with a small
amount of potassium bromide powder and compacting the mixture into a disk.

3. Results & discussion

3.1. Water absorption
Generally, water absorption (WA) was higher in compositions without water-
repellent chemical additives, samples such as VII, VIII and IX had WA values of
17.75%, 7.79%, and 12.37% respective (Fig. 1). These values were higher than those
containing the water-repellent chemical additive. The difference in WA of the
composition of termite mound clay and cement with and without Hydropruf
WP100 (compositions II and VII) was noticeably higher at an increase of 71.86%

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Fig. 1. Water absorption of earth bricks.

for VII. This showed the advantage of the inclusion of water-repellent additive into
the composition. Kenneth et al [26] similarly observed that the lowest water absorp-
tion was observed for earth bricks’ which were treated with the water repellent with
the highest concentration. Also, WA values of 7.59% and 7.79% were noted for com-
positions III and VIII which is quite close to each other, this could be as a result of
combined stabilisation from cement and hydrated lime in the composition. Only a
slight reduction of 2.6% in WA was achieved at III which meant that cement and
lime included in VIII reduced moisture absorption in the brick. The highest WA
was at composition VII where there was only cement as a binder in the composition;
this is due to the absence of lime and Hydropruf WP100. In the same vein, the pores
that were left after hydration of cement could have served as an entry point for mois-
ture intake which could have been blocked with the composite action of lime and the
additive. A look at compositions where the percentage of lime was higher than that
of cement (compositions IV and IX) and with and without Hydropruf WP100
showed that WA was 73% higher in IX. It could be said that hydrated lime is a
good void reducer based on these observations. Therefore in compositions where
a higher quantity of lime was used more than cement and also coupled with the in-
clusion of water repellent admixture, these composite reactions produced a sealing
effect on the pores which proved to be a strong deterrent for moisture uptake.
This condition was satisfied by IV which had the least WA. Muntohar [27] also re-
marked that lime and rice husk ash stabilized clay earth bricks specimens had lower
quantity of absorbed water than the unstabilized ones because they had become
impermeable due to the treatment. Compositions I, VI and X with 100% termite
mound clay and Hydropruf WP100, 100% termite mound clay and 70% termite
mound clay and 30% hydrated lime respectively had no WA values as they all dis-
solved in water before the 24-hour duration elapsed. Clay cells contain remnant

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negative charges on their exterior parts. On immersion in water, the voids between
clay granules get taken over by dipolar water molecules. The open cations caused the
assimilation of water dipoles to the interlayer and with decreased interlayer space,
water uptake in the interlayer space progressed until the interlayer bonds fail which
led to the disintegration of samples in water before 24 hours.

3.2. Thickness swelling

Thickness Swelling (TS) test is a dimensional stability test aimed at the determina-
tion of the thickness of the samples after it has been immersed in water for 24 hours.
Anderson et al [28] reported that swelling can take place in clay through two
different ways which are crystalline and osmotic swelling. Crystalline swelling could
happen in all classes of clay minerals but are short-ranged swelling while osmotic
swelling takes place in particular clay minerals possessing transferrable cations in
the interlayer region. Compositions I, VI and X had no thickness swelling because
they dissolved in water before the 24-hour duration elapsed. This is caused by the
interlayer spaces becoming more pronounced due to the absence of cement binder
and as the inter-network spaces got bigger, the interlayer bonds failed which led
to their final disintegration in water. In addition to this, other factors which could
have played their role in this failure include class and valence of the cations, density
of the exterior charge, concentration of the electrolytes and the dielectric constant
[29]. Compositions II, IV, V and IX had no TS because constant values in thickness
after immersion in water for 24 hours were noted. Presence of lime and cement
binders in varying proportions with the inclusion of the water repellent chemical,
all contributed to this feat. Yool et al [30] stated that swelling depends on the
clay mineral type. Clay samples having montmorillonite are prone to swelling
whereas samples with clay minerals such as pyrophyllite, margarite and illite are
classified as non-swelling clays. Similarly, the minerals deposited in the clay by
the actions of the termite secretions during the formative phase of the mound helped
in this regard also. In the same vein, Kandasami et al [31] reported that termites use
their secretions and excretions to cause cementation within the mould thereby
increasing the strength tenfold. This soil alteration achieved by the termites reduced
the mound vulnerability to erosion and failure. This was also corroborated by Lima
et al [32] who stated that minerals, cation exchange capacity and clay contents were
found in the mound soil compared to the surrounding soils. A similar observation
was also made by Abe et al [33] when they worked on termites mound within the
Nigerian Southern Guinea Savanah region. Compositions with TS values are III,
VII and VIII with 0.78%, 3.21% and 3.13% respectively. The highest TS was at
3.21% for composition VII which was also observed from the WA results; this could
be attributed to the presence of cement at 30% without water repellent admixture.
Besides the issue of cement content, possibly low quantities of calcium silicate hy-
drates (C-S-H) was formed as a product of hydration when termite clay was mixed

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with cement, lime and water. The C-S-H helps to bind the particles more closely
together thereby reducing the pores in the internal network. The high value of
WA could also lead to swelling of the termite mound clay content in the sample
which eventually led to the high TS recorded as seen from this study. This was
closely followed by composition VIII which also has a high content of cement at
20% without the chemical additive but hydrated lime at 10% was included. This
slight difference is majorly due to the presence of lime which has void reducing ten-
dencies. A significant difference could be spotted between the least TS at composi-
tion III and the highest TS value at composition VII at 76% increment in its
dimensional stability. Combined reactions of cement, lime and admixture produced
this positive influence by stabilising the interlayer bonds through the elimination of
spaces and voids. The magnitude of clay swelling is usually dictated by type, size
and charge of exchangeable cations present in the clay interlayer space as well as
layer charge of a clay mineral and the type of additions present [34].

3.3. Compressive strength

The wet cured samples were tested after 24 hours immersion in water but it still per-
formed better than dry conditioned samples as depicted in Fig. 2. This showed the
importance of hydration of cement in water which led to a higher compressive
strength than air cured bricks. Naderi et al [35] explored the effects of air drying
and wet curing methods on compressive strength of concrete; it was stated that lower
compressive strength was observed when samples were exposed to air drying within
the laboratory for 24 hours compared with the wet cured samples. In terms of indi-
vidual compositions and curing method performance for earth brick’s tested after 28
days, some composition within the saturated group had the best compressive

Fig. 2. Compressive strength of earth bricks from termite mound clay.

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strength overall. Samples II, VII and III had 79.7 N/mm2, 57.5 N/mm2 and 47.1 N/
mm2 in that order. The ANOVA analysis in Table 4 indicates that this saturated
method of curing has a statistically significant difference at the 95% confidence level
for the majority of the compositions. Similarly, some bricks within the cured group
also performed well; these include II, VII and III at 66.7 N/mm2, 60.2 N/mm2 and
36.6 N/mm2. Sample bricks from the dry method of curing had the least performance
when compared with the rest methods but some individual compositions within the
group still had good results. Cured and saturated curing conditions, however, had
higher average compressive strength values in comparison with the dry and wet con-
ditions. Saturated curing condition resulted in an average compressive strength of
35.5 N/mm2, cured curing condition produced an average value of 32.9 N/mm2
while dry curing condition produced an average compressive strength of 26.9 N/
mm2 and the wet curing condition resulted in 25 N/mm2. These results are still
within the accepted standard for Nigeria’s earth bricks which stipulates that the
compressive strength of earth brick’s must not be less than 20 N/mm2 [36]. There-
fore, the saturated curing condition produced the highest compressive strength in
comparison with the other three curing conditions. This was followed by the cured
regime, wet and dry in that order respectively.

Table 4 showed the effect of chemical admixture treatment (with and without) and
curing methods on similar compositions. II and VII had the same composition pro-
portions but II was treated with the admixture, the ANOVA analysis only showed a
statistical significant difference at dry curing conditions while the rest were statisti-
cally insignificant. III and VIII also had the same proportions but water repellent ad-
ditive was included in composition III. Its ANOVA analysis showed that dry, wet
and saturated curing conditions had statistically significant differences but cured

Table 4. ANOVA of compressive strength of earth bricks from TMC between

similar compositions and the effect of different curing conditions.

Sample composition Curing Sum of squares DF F statistics P-value Result Conclusion

II and VII Dry 2247.9600 5 34.0910 0.0043 Reject Significant

Wet 1269.1800 5 0.2967 0.6149 Accept Insignificant
Cured 351.5198 5 0.8931 0.3982 Accept Insignificant
Saturated 915.9480 5 17.0000 0.0146 Reject Significant
III and VIII Dry 628.5463 5 44.9847 0.0026 Reject Significant
Wet 1344.5000 5 48.3910 0.0022 Reject Significant
Cured 389.8835 5 74.4017 0.3278 Accept Insignificant
Saturated 893.0554 5 53.9694 0.0018 Reject Significant
IV and IX Dry 61.6225 5 0.7976 0.4223 Accept Insignificant
Wet 43.6297 5 0.2508 0.6428 Accept Insignificant
Cured 153.8993 5 6.0025 0.0704 Accept Insignificant
Saturated 43.6297 4.4962 0.1013 Accept Insignificant
Note: DF is a degree of freedom. 95% confidence level was used and the null hypothesis was rejected
when the alpha level (0.05) is larger than p-value, therefore a significant difference exists between the
groups. The null hypothesis was accepted when the alpha level (0.05) is lower than p-value, therefore
an insignificant difference exists between the groups.

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had an insignificant difference. In contrast to the others, IV and IX had statistically

insignificant differences across the entire curing conditions. The reason for this is
that the minimum level of cement needed to improve the strength had been reduced
by 10% when they were compared with the other compositions. Presence of cement
in sufficient quantity is also needed before the desired compressive strength can be
achieved. Clay is said to be prone to exchanging cations so as to maintain inherent
electrical charges on its surface. These cations are easily exchanged with organic
substances such as water repellent admixtures. This attribute makes application of
these chemicals easy for its treatment in order to reduce its moisture intake [37].

3.4. Microstructural analysis

Fig. 3 showed the SEM images of a sample containing 70% termite soil, 30% cement
(VII in Table 3) showed poorly interconnected aggregates as well as a porous and
inhomogeneous microstructure with voids seen on the surface. This micrograph val-
idates the WA result which showed that the sample had the highest moisture

Fig. 3. SEM images of sample bricks II, III and VII.

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absorption rate. Similarly, this high porosity observed led to the sample having the
highest dimensional instability as seen in Table 3. The voids could have been caused
by the residual air bubbles introduced into the bricks during the initial mixing and
also it could be related to spaces left by water after cement hydration had been
completed [38,39]. Micrograph of sample containing 70% termite soil, 30% cement
and 0.05 Hydropruf (II in Fig. 3 and Table 3) indicated fewer voids and a regular and
smooth appearance. This development was influenced by the inclusion of the water
repellent admixture which caused substantial reduction in voids. TS results showed
that no increase in swelling was observed for this sample hence proving the impor-
tance of the additive in reducing moisture intake. Similarly, the highest mechanical
strength in most of the curing conditions was noted for this sample which is as a
result of reduction in voids as observed from the micrograph. The microstructure
of sample containing 70% termite soil, 30% cement, 10% lime and 0.05 Hydropruf
(III in Fig. 3 and Table 3) affirmed the role of lime as being a good binder and a void
reducer substance by reducing voids and microcracks on the as seen on the selected
zone. The sample had the least swelling tendency among those that were dimension-
ally unstable at 0.78%. In the same vein, it was also among the top three performers
during the compressive strength testing.

3.5. Fourier transform infrared spectrometer analysis

The FTIR spectra of sample 5 with 70% TM, 30% lime and 0.05 Hydropruf (Fig. 4
and Table 5) showed the high contents in aluminosilicate minerals shown by the
SieO stretching bands between 1000 and 1500 cm
1 or 500e700 cm
1 [40] and
the AleO bending at 400e700 cm
1. Distinctive broad bands were observed at
the wave numbers of 3439 cm
1 for O-H stretching, 1425.44 cm
1 for SieO/
AleO stretching and wave number range of 1033.83e1008.80 cm
1 for OeH

Fig. 4. FTIR of sample 5.

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Table 5. FTIR characteristics bands of sample 5.

Vibration frequency Functional group

3439 -OH- stretching

2928 -C-C- stretching
1627 OH bending
1425 Si-O/Al-O stretching
1033.83e1008.80 Si-O- stretching
914.29 Al-Al-OH
873.78 Al-O
796.63 Al-OH
694.40 Si-O-Al
540.09 Si-O-Al
470.65 Si-O- bending

bending, respectively. A shift of the Si-O band with decrease in intensity is observed
from 1425 to 1008.80 respectively. This shift in bands confirms the dissolution of the
reactive phases of the aluminosilicate material, which is evident by the substitution
of Si-O bonds by Si-O-Al [41,42]. Finally, a decrease in the intensity of the Si-O
bending vibration bond is observed from 14.4 to 11.6.

The FTIR spectra of sample 3 with 70% TM, 20% cement, 10% lime and 0.05 Hydro-
pruf (Fig. 5) showed high vibration bands that are characterised with increased in-
tensities. FTIR spectra bands of calcite are located on 2874.03, 1429.30 and
873.78 cm
1 [43,44]. The intensity of these bands increased with the introduction
of lime to the cement quantity in the brick. In high frequency, a broad band around
3419 cm
1 was noticed which is a common trait related to asymmetric stretching vi-
bration bands of hydration water and calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) [45]. The major

Fig. 5. FTIR of sample 3.

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 Article Nowe01182

peaks are observed in the increase of the vibration bands at 3419.90, 1429.30,
1033.88, 914.29, 540.09 and 470.65 cm
1, which is characteristic of the OH vibra-
tion of portlandite for the first band [42].

It is apparent from Figs. 6 and 7 which showed the FTIR spectras of sample 8 with
70% TM, 20% cement and 10% lime and sample 9 with 70% TM, 10% cement and
20% lime that the removal of Hydropruf chemical admixture led to a higher vibration
band intensity in sample 8 than sample 9. There was an increase in the significant
broad bands from 3419.90 to 3439.19 cm
1 assigned to OH stretching, 1635.
69e1639.55 cm
1 assigned to OH bending and 1417.73e1425.44 cm
1 assigned
to Si-O/Al-O stretching. Also similar vibration bands were observed for both sam-
ples at 1033.83, 1008.80, 540.09, 470.65 and 432.07 cm
1 depicting that there is
not much difference in the chemical reactions due to the slight changes made to
both cement and lime in the bricks.

Fig. 6. FTIR of sample 8.

Fig. 7. FTIR of sample 9.

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4. Conclusion
The goal of this study was to determine the influence of different curing regimes and
water repellent chemical additive on compressive strength and dimensional stability
of earth bricks from termite mound clay. The dimensional stability tests, mechanical,
microstructural and elemental characterisations were also performed on the samples.
The dimensional stability results showed that the best performing composition was
70% termite mound clay, 10% cement, 20% hydrated lime and 0.05 Hydropruf ad-
ditive. The highest mechanical strength was from composition of 70% termite
mound clay, 30% cement, no hydrated lime and 0.05 Hydropruf additive. The curing
conditions with optimum performances are the saturated and cured methods based
on this experiment. Therefore it is suggested that the use of water repellent additive
and saturated curing method be adopted in developing nations where the use of
termite mound clay as a building material is predominant.

Declarations
Author contribution statement
Akinyemi Banjo: Conceived and designed the experiments; Performed the experi-
ments; Analyzed and interpreted the data; Contributed reagents, materials, analysis
tools or data; Wrote the paper.

Adeola Bamidele: Contributed reagents, materials, analysis tools or data.

Adeoye Oluwanifemi: Performed the experiments.

Funding statement
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public,
commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Competing interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information
No additional information is available for this paper.

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