ISO 527-1:2012 specifies the general principles for determining the tensile properties of plastics and plastic composites under defined conditions. Several different types of test specimen are defined to suit different types of material which are detailed in subsequent parts of ISO 527.

The methods are used to investigate the tensile behaviour of the test specimens and for determining the tensile strength, tensile modulus and other aspects of the tensile stress/strain relationship under the conditions defined.

The methods are not normally suitable for use with rigid cellular materials, for which ISO 1926 is used, or for sandwich structures containing cellular materials.