A round-robin study on the tensile characterization of single fibres: A multifactorial analysis and recommendations for more reliable results

In this benchmark, the tensile properties of three types of organic fibres – flax, hemp and aramid − were determined using single-fibre tensile tests performed by nine research groups. Flax and hemp were chosen due to their prevalence among European fibre plants. Aramid was selected for its synthetic nature and comparable dimensional properties. Due to the morphological complexity and variability of plant fibres, the scatter in the apparent tangent modulus and strength is more pronounced for flax and hemp compared to aramid. The primary source of scatter in the tensile properties results from human factors and experimental procedures, particularly regarding the fibre selection, the measurement of the fibre cross-sectional area and of the tensile strain. The post-processing procedure also turns out to be a key factor. Finally, recommendations and guidelines for best practices are proposed to reduce the main sources of dispersion associated with the reproducibility of single fibre tensile tests.