Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd’s SMart BEAM™ lightweight welded H-beam has been highly acclaimed for its lightweight merits. Consequently, a large quantity of these beams are being adopted in the Second Keihan Highway, which is currently under construction. This Highway is a toll road with a length of 28.3km that links Kyoto and Osaka, and is scheduled to open at 20 March 2010. The installed area of sound absorbing panels for the underside of the elevated road is approximately 140,000m2, and Sumitomo Metals has received orders for approximately 1500tns of the roughly 1800tns of lightweight welded H-beams to be used as supporting beams. Lightweight welded H-beams are continuously manufactured from hot-rolled coils by means of high-frequency resistance welding. In addition, as SMart BEAM™ lightweight welded H-beams are welded after cutting hot-rolled coils to the necessary width, it is possible to manufacture various sizes, dimensional precision is high, and these products are suitable for processing on automatic lines. Consequently, most steel-related prefabricated housing manufacturers in Japan have adopted these products as beams for their houses.
