Masonry bricks reinforced with human hairs as innovative building products

Morsali, Vafa; Babamohammadi, Farzad; Malmir, Somaye

doi:10.22060/ajce.2026.24169.5925

Masonry bricks reinforced with human hairs as innovative building products

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Vafa Morsali ¹

Farzad Babamohammadi ²

Somaye Malmir ³

¹ Department of Civil Engineering, Saghez Branch, Islamic Azad University, Saghez, Iran

² Department of Civil Engineering, West Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

³ Department of Physics, Payame Noor University, 19395-4697, Tehran, Iran

10.22060/ajce.2026.24169.5925

Abstract

In this article, raw materials were used in different ratios without brick firing to achieve the minimum compressive strength required by the standards. An average compressive strength of 8.36 N/mm2 was obtained on the bricks having the highest levels of resistance. A comparison was also made with brick samples available on the market (Gary), which are manufactured in brick kilns. A comparison of the compressive strength of bricks made of different raw materials revealed that they were lower in compressive strength than Gary bricks. In order to solve this resistance gap, it was necessary to strengthen the bricks, this study refers to the technique known as strengthening bricks with hair fibers (SBHF). Here, human hairs were used as natural tensile fibers to achieve this resistance. Based on the combination of different percentages of hairs with bricks obtained from the best combination of materials, the compressive strength of the samples varied between 9.22 N/mm2 and 15.13 N/mm2. In this study, more than 300 bricks were produced without the use of brick kilns, which consume a significant amount of energy and contribute to environmental pollution. In the experiment campaign, it was found that bricks reinforced with 2% human hairs, which are waste materials and pollute the environment, had a higher compressive strength than bricks currently available on the market. Additionally, the SBHF method also resulted in increasing compressive strength of prisms, satisfactory water absorption, and reduction of 30% in production cost compared to samples found on the market.

Keywords

Masonry bricks

Clay

Human hairs

Environmental issues

compressive strength

Subjects

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