Mexican students create lightweight polystyrene bricks

from the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) designed a high resistance brick made from polystyrene . It can reduce the impact in case of an earthquake , it is thermal , and, since it is cheaper , it could be used to build low-cost housing .

The project called Tunicol TEP (Ecological Polystyrene Brick) was designed and made by students of the “Lázaro Cárdenas” Center of Scientific and Technologic Studies .

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It is a brick that has the same measures as a conventional one but that is made with polystyrene , cement , and tepojal , a volcanic-origin pumice stone of sorts covered with clay and lighter than tezontle ; it is used to elaborate bricks and as a filling material because it is highly porous and hence does not retain water.

The Tunicol TEP bricks have high resistance, reduce the seismic and audible impact, are thermal, and are 50% lighter than conventional bricks which cost between MXN $3 and $3.5 per unit versus the MXN $2 brick created by the IPN students.

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The new brick weights between three and four kilograms , while a conventional one weighs between five and six. The Tunicol TEP bricks are dried outdoors and do not need a special process.

For the elaboration of these bricks, the IPN students built a machine that performs three operations: mixing , compacting , and unmolding .

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To build the machine they used highly resistant material in addition to recycled structures like pipes, plaques, and fan blades. Its operation is manual and in case of it being automatic, the production times could be reduced.

The cost of the machine was of nearly MXN $3 thousand and its structure can resist corrosion and the pressure of its operation. It weighs approximately 20 kilograms .

With this innovation , the students of the major in Industrial Processes won the first place of the competition “ 2019 Award to the Best Highschool Prototypes ” organized by the IPN in the category of Industrial Design .

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