Use of industrial ceramic sludge in brick production: effect on aesthetic quality and physical properties Coletti, Chiara Maritan, Lara Cultrone , Giuseppe V. Mazzoli, Claudio Bricks Sludge Mineralogy Physical-mechanical properties Durability Aestethic quality Porosity Most brick companies nowadays focus their research on the recycling of waste, in order to be able to market new types of bricks. In this work, we explored the possibility of using ceramic sludge in brick production, aiming to find an alternative eco-friendly additive to produce ‘‘eco-bricks” characterised by suitable mechanical and aesthetic properties and durability. For this purpose, two types of bricks produced by an Italian factory (SanMarco-Terreal) were compared with a newly designed brick obtained from the same starting clay, with the addition of ceramic sludge in place of the traditionally used siliceous sand. Bricks and raw materials were investigated with a multivariate approach, consisting in the mineralogical and chemical analysis, and the final products microstructurally investigated and their physical-mechanical properties determined. Results show that bricks produced with added ceramic sludge can substitute traditional bricks well, fulfilling aesthetic requirements and maintaining sufficient mechanical properties. However, one drawback was that these new materials did not respond to freeze-thaw cycles, highlighting their potential vulnerability in cold climates. 2025-05-30T12:17:07Z 2025-05-30T12:17:07Z 2016 journal article Construction and Building Materials, 124, 219-227 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/104376 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2016.07.096 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ open access Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional Elsevier