The scatter in tensile properties induced by the determination and calculation
method of the cross-sectional area (CSA) of bast fibre bundles is almost as high
as the scatter found in the literature. Different methods (light microscopy, high
resolution flat-bed scanning, and laser-based fibre dimensional analysis) were
applied to exactly the same flax fibre bundles prior to tensile testing, and different
approaches for the calculation of the CSA were applied. The CSA method
alone is introducing up to 300 % of variation in tensile strength data. These
results show that there is a strong need for standards and standardisation of
fibre bundle testing. Care has to be taken when comparing results from studies
using slightly different methods.