A method of characterising a material that comprises the steps of: a. providing a sample of the material simply supported between two parallel die supports, said supports having the same edge shape; b. bending the sample by providing an external force, F, via a bending knife, said force acting in a plane perpendicular to the plane formed by the centres of the die supports and which intersects the material at the centre line between the die supports, said bending knife extending at least the entire length of the sample; c. the method characterised by comprising the step of calculating a cross-section moment, M, of the material using the following equation: M = F ⋅ L M β 1 2 ⋅ cos 2 β 1 where F is the applied bending force, L m ( β 1) is the moment arm, calculated according to the following equation: L m β 1 = L 0 − R k + R d ⋅ sin β 1 where L 0 is half the die width, R d is the radius of the die edge, R k is the radius of the knife, and β 1 is the bending angle, wherein bending angle, β 1, is the angle moved by the surface normal of the sample at the contact point with one of the die supports during bending by the external force, calculated as 90° or π/2 radians minus the acute angle between the normal vectors of the start and bent planes of the sample, the start plane corresponding to the plane formed by the centre lines of the two parallel die supports, and the bent plane corresponding to the plane formed by the centre line of one die support and the line of contact between that die support and the sample, which plane contains the normal of the sample at the point which contacts the die support. a. providing a sample of the material simply supported between two parallel die supports, said supports having the same edge shape; b. bending the sample by providing an external force, F, via a bending knife, said force acting in a plane perpendicular to the plane formed by the centres of the die supports and which intersects the material at the centre line between the die supports, said bending knife extending at least the entire length of the sample; c. the method characterised by comprising the step of calculating a cross-section moment, M, of the material using the following equation: M = F ⋅ L M β 1 2 ⋅ cos 2 β 1 where F is the applied bending force, L m ( β 1) is the moment arm, calculated according to the following equation: L m β 1 = L 0 − R k + R d ⋅ sin β 1 where L 0 is half the die width, R d is the radius of the die edge, R k is the radius of the knife, and β 1 is the bending angle, wherein bending angle, β 1, is the angle moved by the surface normal of the sample at the contact point with one of the die supports during bending by the external force, calculated as 90° or π/2 radians minus the acute angle between the normal vectors of the start and bent planes of the sample, the start plane corresponding to the plane formed by the centre lines of the two parallel die supports, and the bent plane corresponding to the plane formed by the centre line of one die support and the line of contact between that die support and the sample, which plane contains the normal of the sample at the point which contacts the die support. F is the applied bending force, L m ( β 1) is the moment arm, calculated according to the following equation: L m β 1 = L 0 − R k + R d ⋅ sin β 1 where L 0 is half the die width, R d is the radius of the die edge, R k is the radius of the knife, and β 1 is the bending angle, wherein bending angle, β 1, is the angle moved by the surface normal of the sample at the contact point with one of the die supports during bending by the external force, calculated as 90° or π/2 radians minus the acute angle between the normal vectors of the start and bent planes of the sample, the start plane corresponding to the plane formed by the centre lines of the two parallel die supports, and the bent plane corresponding to the plane formed by the centre line of one die support and the line of contact between that die support and the sample, which plane contains the normal of the sample at the point which contacts the die support. L 0 is half the die width, R d is the radius of the die edge, R k is the radius of the knife, and β 1 is the bending angle,