In 1915, Dr. K. Honda developed a thermobalance, the world's first instrument that could continuously measure changes in the weight of a sample while the sample was being heated or cooled.
Dr. Honda measured other physical properties of iron, steel and alloys,and made a great contribution to the advance of the material sciences.

ULVAC-RIKO, a member of the ULVAC group companies, specializes in the manufacture of thermal analyzers and analytical equipment to measure the thermo-physical properties of materials at the extremes of heat and cold.

ULVAC-RIKO also developed the  unique infrared gold image furnace and precision radiative heating systems which are being used in the research of semiconductors and in many other processes, also for producing  thin steel plate.