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‘It ensures the penetration
of hard-to-reach welds
inside the beam.’
The beams range in weight
from 100 to 5,000 kilograms.
The longest ones are more
than 12 metres long. The most
labour-intensive beams take
approximately one work day
to weld and consume seven
kilograms of filler wire.
Toni Paajavuori welding the
support plate inserts. They
are welded after assembly,
through the web holes. The
holes are only 80 to 150
millimetres in diameter, which
means that both visibility and
accessibility are inadequate
for traditional approaches.
The ends, mould plates, spacers,
reinforcement bars, and support plate
inserts are welded manually by means
of the MAG method. Manual welding
in Finland is carried out with Kemppi
FastMig Pulse 450 equipment with the
WisePenetration feature.
‘It ensures the penetration of hard-toreach
welds inside the beam,’ says Räty.
After the beam is assembled, welds
have to be made through the web holes.
They are only 80 to 150 millimetres in
diameter, which means that the visibility
of the welding location is poor.
‘Furthermore, because of limited
accessibility, the position of the torch
changes from pulling to pushing during
welding, and the alignment of the arc
with respect to the joint cannot be
optimal all the time,’ Räty says.
The quality requirement for the
beam’s structural welds is level C under
the SFS-EN ISO 5817 standard.
After assembly, the lower surface
of the beam is protected with alkyd or
epoxy primer for storage and transport.
‘Any other painting is subject to casespecific
agreement,’ says Räty.
Deltabeam makes a green impact
The results of Peikko’s product
development have often been pioneers in
their field. The company was among the
first to commission research on the carbon
footprint of construction. According to
an independent study conducted in Great
Britain, the use of Deltabeams reduces the
carbon footprint over a building’s life span
in comparison to I-beams.
‘The use of Deltabeams reduced the
carbon footprint of construction materials
by 10%. Most of the reduction came
from the amount of steel needed: the
number of beams required was
substantially lower than
the equivalent number
of I-beams,’ says Toni
Räty.
‘There were
other savings
on materials
too – such as
bricks, concrete, and mortar – and in waste,
because the use of Deltabeams instead of
I-beams reduced the building’s overall
height,’ he says.
In all, the use of Deltabeams reduced the
carbon footprint over the building’s entire
life span by five per cent when compared to
I-beam construction.
© Peikko Oy
Facts about Peikko
• Peikko Group Corporation,
established in 1965, is a family
business specialising in composite
beams and joining technology for
concrete structures.
• Peikko operates in more than 20
countries, on three continents. It is
headquartered in Lahti, Finland.
• In addition to Finland, Peikko has
production facilities in Great Britain,
Lithuania, Germany, Slovakia, Russia,
and the United Arab Emirates.
• Since its establishment, Peikko has
been developing new technologies
and applications for industrial
products. For example, the company
has developed a standardised
foundation structure for the towers
of wind power stations.
• The business group’s turnover
in 2010 came to €78 million. On
average, the company had 700
personnel, approximately 300 of
them in Finland.
www.peikko.com
28 Kemppi ProNews 2011