Tensile tests on fibers were conducted on a tow (strand) disassembled from the fab­ric. The tows in the longitudinal direction in the fabric were separated from the ones in the orthogonal direction. Tests were carried out for both series separately. The tensile properties of the fiber tow were determined at room temperature and 50% relative humidity on an Instron 5548 microtester machine, with crosshead distance of 50 mm and speeds of 120 mm/min. The maximum load at break was recorded for each specimen. A minimum 10 specimens were tested for each type of sample.

The tensile properties of the composites were evaluated at room temperature and 50% relative humidity on an Instron 5500R machine, with crosshead speeds of 5 mm/min according to ASTM 3039-00. A minimum 5 specimens were tested for each type of sample.