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Abstract
A. Luikov found in the study of plastic clays that the moisture gradient was opposite to the temperature gradient when a sphere of clay was heated in a saturated atmosphere so that evaporation was prevented. This thermal diffusion brought about so high a moisture gradient that the sphere cracked at the surface.
In the case of a brick clay from Stallarholmen, Sclaön, Mälaren, we have found that the moisture gradients brought about by the thermal diffusion were much lower than those found by Luikov and of no technical importance for the appearance of cracks in the bricks during the drying process.