ISO 9163:2005 specifies two methods for the determination of the tensile stress at break of an impregnated roving:

• a reference method using test specimens produced with moulded epoxy tabs;
• a short method using test specimens with no tabs or simple cardboard or composite tabs.

The methods are applicable to both assembled (multistrand) and direct (multifilament) rovings; nevertheless the reference method may be used for various linear densities, but the short method is described for 1200 tex rovings only, which is the linear density that allows the roving to spread out most easily to give a flat tape.