About Us – History of Strainoptics

Strainoptics was founded in 1985 by Alex Redner, an international authority in the field of stress analysis with over 35 years of experience. We are world leaders in stress measurement instrumentation and optical inspection equipment for the glass and plastics industries. Our mission is to make sure that our customers can optimize their production processes and create the best products possible through stress measurement.

We train customers around the world on the topics of photoelasticity and stress measurement and provide technical support to anyone in need of help with residual stress analysis, materials evaluation, or applications engineering. From our facility outside of Philadelphia in North Wales, PA, we calibrate and repair polarimetry equipment made by any manufacturer.

Strainoptics equipment is used by the most respected names in the glass and plastics industry.  Our GASP^® polarimeter is the internationally recognized standard for measuring surface stress in heat-strengthened or tempered glass and you will find our patented SCA on-line stress scanners installed in float glass plants around the world.

We offer the largest line of instrumentation, from hand-held strain viewers, polarimeters and instruments for measuring roller wave distortion to light transmission meters and automated on-line and off-line systems for stress and birefringence measurement.

If you are not familiar with stress measurement test methods or if you are not sure which Strainoptics instrument is suitable for your application, please contact us via e-mail or phone for assistance. We will be glad to review your application and help you understand how stress measurement can become a vital part of your quality control procedures.