Instron is a manufacturer of test equipment designed to evaluate the mechanical properties of materials and components.

In 1946, Harold Hindman and George Burr, who worked together at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

 (MIT), teamed up to determine the properties of new materials to be used in parachutes. Together, they designed a material testing machine based on strain gauge

Strain gauge

A strain gauge is a device used to measure the strain of an object. Invented by Edward E. Simmons and Arthur C. Ruge in 1938, the most common type of strain gauge consists of an insulating flexible backing which supports a metallic foil pattern. The gauge is attached to the object by a suitable...

 load cell

Load cell

A load cell is a transducer that is used to convert a force into electrical signal. This conversion is indirect and happens in two stages. Through a mechanical arrangement, the force being sensed deforms a strain gauge. The strain gauge measures the deformation as an electrical signal, because the...

s and servo-control systems. This led to the formation of Instron Engineering Corporation.

Application areas

• Tensile strength
  Tensile strength
  Ultimate tensile strength , often shortened to tensile strength or ultimate strength, is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before necking, which is when the specimen's cross-section starts to significantly contract...
  
   testinghttp://www.instron.com/wa/products/universal_material/default.aspx?testtype=tension
• Compressive strength
  Compressive strength
  Compressive strength is the capacity of a material or structure to withstand axially directed pushing forces. When the limit of compressive strength is reached, materials are crushed. Concrete can be made to have high compressive strength, e.g...
  
   testing
• Fatigue
  Fatigue (material)
  'In materials science, fatigue is the progressive and localized structural damage that occurs when a material is subjected to cyclic loading. The nominal maximum stress values are less than the ultimate tensile stress limit, and may be below the yield stress limit of the material.Fatigue occurs...
  
   testinghttp://www.instron.com/wa/products/fatigue_testing/default.aspx
• Flexural strength
  Flexural strength
  Flexural strength, also known as modulus of rupture, bend strength, or fracture strength, a mechanical parameter for brittle material, is defined as a material's ability to resist deformation under load...
  
   testing
• Impact force
  Impact force
  In mechanics, an impact is a high force or shock applied over a short time period when two or more bodies collide. Such a force or acceleration usually has a greater effect than a lower force applied over a proportionally longer time period of time...
  
   testing

Competition

Instron's competitors in the materials testing equipment industry include (among others):

• ADMET, Inc.
  ADMET
  ADMET may refer to:* ADME-Tox, absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion - toxicity in pharmacokinetics* Acyclic diene metathesis, an olefin metathesis polymerisation method...
  
   http://admet.com/
• MTS Systems Corporation
  MTS Systems Corporation
  MTS Systems Corporation is a testing and sensing solutions company located in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, a southwest suburb of Minneapolis.MTS is a provider of mechanical test systems, material testing, fatigue testing and tensile testing services as well as motion simulation system and calibration...
  
   http://www.mts.com/
• Shimadzu Corporation http://shimadzu.com/
• TestResources, Inc. http://testresources.net
• Tinius Olsen
  Tinius Olsen
  Tinius Olsen was a Norwegian born, American engineer and inventor. He was the founder of the Tinius Olsen Engineering Testing Machine Company. He was awarded the Elliott Cresson Medal of The Franklin Institute in 1891....
  
   http://tiniusolsen.com/
• Zwick Roell Group
  Zwick Roell Group
  The Zwick Roell Group is a manufacturer of static testing machines and systems for materials and components testing. They manufacture products which are used to evaluate the mechanical and physical properties and performance of materials and components, and have a growing business in the dynamic...