The main objective of the present study was to determine the relative role and importance of worsted suiting fabric fibre blend vis-à-vis fabric structural parameters, on the comfort related properties of 12 clothing ensembles, each comprising a different man’s suit, but the same wool/nylon underwear and cotton shirt. To achieve the objective, the comfort related properties, namely thermal resistance (Rt) and water vapour resistance (Ret) and water vapour permeability index (Im), of the clothing ensembles, as determined by means of WalterTM, a thermal sweating fabric manikin, were subjected to multi-linear and multi-quadratic analysis, as dependent variables, with the various suiting fabric parameters, namely weight, thickness, density, porosity, air permeability and wool content, as independent variables. It was found that the multi-quadratic regression analysis was able to best explain the observed differences in the clothing ensemble comfort related properties, in terms of the differences in suiting fabric properties. The regression analyses were used to isolate and quantify the effects of the various fabric and fibre content variables on the above mentioned comfort related properties of the various clothing ensembles. This study indicated that the suiting fabric structural properties (notably air permeability), had a more significant influence than either fibre blend or suiting fabric, as measured on WalterTM, a thermal sweating fabric manikin.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1978 A55 / Master of Science

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1979 B69 / Master of Science

published_or_final_version / Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of 100% cotton underwear worn beneath a swimsuit on the accuracy and reliability of percent body fat measurements in the BOD POD. Sixty adults (30 males, 30 females) of various ages (1887 years) and body composition (1.95-57.15%) were tested four times in one day. Subjects wore a swimsuit and swimcap for two trials and 100% cotton underwear beneath the swimsuit and a swimcap for the remaining trials. The clothing order was randomized. Thoracic gas volume was predicted. ANOVA found no significant difference between the swimsuit only trials (25.4+12.4%) and swimsuit with underwear trials (25.1+12.3%) for all subjects. Intra-class correlation coefficients were 0.994 and 0.995 for the swimsuit only and swimsuit with underwear trials, respectively. In conclusion, these results suggest that wearing 100% cotton underwear beneath a swimsuit is an acceptable practice for fitness laboratories and the reliability was very good. / School of Physical Education

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Ethoxyl capped hydroxypropyl lignin (IIP-EL) was used as a finishing agent for cotton fabric to impart the property of crease recovery to the fabric. The synthesis of the finish involved two steps: Synthesis of phenyl N( 3 - cyanato 4 methyl phenyl) carbamate by reacting phenol and Tolylene diisocyanate (TDI) in a 1:1 mole ratio. Reaction of the above prepolymer with the modified lignin (HP- EL) using a mole ratio of 1:20 to form a lignin carbamate. The lignin carbamate finish was crosslinked to cotton cellulose fabric through carbamoyl linkages when the fabric was cured. There is emperical evidence for the chemical crosslinking of cellulose with lignin. The effects of the finish on the fabric physical properties like durable press rating, dimensional stability, tensile strength, abrasion resistance, warp and weft recovery angle were investigated. Analysis of the results showed improvement in the durable press rating and excellent retention of tensile strength and abrasion resistance. The results of warp and weft recovery angle tests which relate to durable press properties, suggest the need to further investigate the possibility of using a different chain-extended lignin to achieve improved results. / Master of Science

The thesis deals with the surface modification of cotton fabric by low-pressure micro-wave plasma discharge. The main materials used for this experiment are cotton fabrics and hexamethyldisiloxane. The experiment itself is focused on the modification of cotton fabric to improve hydrophobic atributes. An argon process gas was used in the surface modification. The individual treated samples were operated with changes in process gas flow and the time during which the above-mentioned modifications was performed. Two methods were used to analyze the results of the experiment. The first one was aimed at determining changes in hydrophobic atributes in the form of wetta-bility in an unmodified sample compared to other modificated samples using the drop-let method. An electron microscope was used for the subsequent study of possible changes in surface topography. From the point of view of the examined results, the difference in hydrophobic properties was observed when using the droplet method to-gether with the change in the topography of the surface obtained on the electron mi-croscope in the cotton samples examined. The actual evaluation of individual methods points to the desirable changes in modified cotton compared to unmodified cotton. Further information regarding the results of the experiment, depending on the changes in individual parameters in the cotton treatment process using low pressure microwave plasma discharge, are presented in thesis.

The British market has until now received little of the credit due it as the chief support of the cotton industry during the final fifty years of the eighteenth century. The manner in which this support was extended involved a restructuring of the economy, as illustrated by a qualitative change in the consumer habits of the population; the advent of a mass consumer society. The demand for cotton textiles was a distillation of many amorphous desires and aspirations that flourished in eighteenth century Britain. This was not a frivolous whim on the part of a small host of women, but a powerful economic force which might be tapped through the female section of the society, but which involved the entire society on a fundamental level. When the fashionable urge was translated into a demand for inexpensive, attractive cottons the industry was tied to one of the most potent commercial forces of that period. As a result of recent research, historians are coming to recognize a feature of economic development in the last half of the eighteenth century never before sufficiently acknowledged. This quality in the economic life of the nation set it off from all previous eras. During that time an economy developed and prospered that was geared to the profits of popular fashions, produced cheaply and in quantity for the mass market. Never before had a trade developed so quickly, exclusively on popular demand for mass-produced fashionable textiles. The provision of news on current fashions throughout the nation sparked generalized interest in British manufacturers among the middle and working classes. These classes were the basis of the market on which the cotton. industry depended for its vitality; it was among these sections of society that the creations of the cotton industry found the great new markets of the eighteenth century. Institutionalized dessimination of fashion information in print; a homogeneity of demand throughout the nation and the ranks of the nation; and the diversification and development of cotton products in response to this demand were the principal characteristics of this economic and social phenomenon.