Thesis (Ph.D.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in electronic version.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

The thesis deals with the concepts of Millenarianism and the witnessing of Faith through costume, textiles and related arts. The responses of five religious sects, Amish, Shaker, Puritan, Quakers and Mennonites, are examined. This text falls into two discrete sections. Chapter One details the historic background of the sects. Subsequent chapters outline the Millennial impulse of the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries and resulting emigration to the New World. These chapters detail Utopian social models and a discussion of textiles and clothing as indicators of history and human experience. Chapter Three is an overview of religious iconography in this area of American art, touching on themes and the role in society of both the art and the artist. It discusses allegory and symbolism in the visual arts. The second half of the thesis focuses on the costume and textiles of each group. Particular consideration is given to the use of iconography, symbolism and allegory in their visual creations. Internal doctrinal differences are examined such as interpretations of the Biblical injuction to be 'plain', and the central role that the concept of being 'not conformed to the World' plays in the social/aesthetic/religious development of the sects. Apparent theological contradictions are highlighted and addressed. Pressures on each sect to adapt to the cultural norm that have resulted in change and disintegration are detailed.

Gabbroic rocks in sills commonly display well organized magnetic fabrics that are generally attributed to magma flow. Yet in a number of cases, magnetic fabrics that are considered proxies for flow fabrics, form at a high angle to the intrusive - host rock wall. A symmetrical oblique magnetic fabric observed in opposite margins of a dike has been interpreted as the result of viscous drag against the margin, a model referred to as fabric imbrication. In this study tested if a similar viscous drag model could also apply to sills. The Karoo Large Igneous Province (LIP) of South Africa offers unparalleled opportunities to investigate fabrics, internal zonation and magma flow in mafic sills of thicknesses ranging from 5 to 50 m. Exceptionally; Karoo sills can reach a 1000 m in thickness (e.g., Insizwa). Geochemical studies suggest that the Karoo gabbro sills have a consistent tholeiitic magma composition across the entire Karoo Basin, especially as far as major elements are concerned. It is also practically undeformed and upon initial inspection unweathered, making it a well suited natural laboratory to test fabric models in gabbro sills. Magnetic fabrics are generally considered a good proxy for magmatic fabrics. The anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility has been measured on oriented hand specimens collected across vertical profiles through two representative sills. Scalar parameters such as magnetic susceptibility, degree of anisotropy and shape factor show variations with height in the intrusion. The variations in these parameters can be interpreted in terms of magmatic dynamic and static processes such as, for example, thermal convection, gravitational crystal settling or magmatic mush compaction. Directional parameters provide additional constrains on the dynamic vs. static nature of fabric-forming processes. Petrographic studies indicate that the primary carrier of the magnetic properties of the Karoo gabbros is titanomagnetite. Accessorily, pyrrhotite and hematite are present, but not in sufficient quantities to account for more than 1% of the sampled intrusions magnetic properties. Hydrous phyllosilicates are present in one sample, suggesting some alteration has occurred at the upper contact of the Country Club Road sill. Magnetic fabrics of the studied sills reveal complex susceptibility and remanence fabrics as a function of stratigraphic height. The proposed fabric development model does not sufficiently describe the observations, thus these fabrics were formed by a combination of mechanisms, both early and late in the cooling history of the intrusions. The observed magnetic fabrics display properties consistent with both the fabric imbrication model and the proposed viscous shear model. It is possible that crystal settling, melt segregation and possibly convection processes also were likely integral to the formation of the magnetic fabrics of the studied Karoo sills, though further studies are necessary.

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About a decade ago an attempt to build a viable wild silk industry, prompted by the discovery of the naturally available wild silk cocoons in the North West Province of South Africa, was made and a degumming plant was established in the Ganyesa village. The challenges faced in that establishment soon brought the developments to a standstill and cited among the problems was the lack of designer input in the production stages, which resulted in poor quality products. Focusing on the design problem the intention of this research is to explore a more effective design and production method for the wild silk fabrics. Through assessing the previously produced fabrics in order to identify their limitations, and by experimenting with innovative fabric production processes, a suitable aesthetic quality can be added to the final products. Starting with the investigation of current trends and choosing a design theme as a guide for the production process, fabric samples intended for use in upholstery of home furniture are developed. With the objective of successfully achieving a balance between aesthetic appeal and suitability for the intended end use, the fabrics are subjected to performance assessments based on internationally recognised standards. From the findings of this research it is therefore envisaged that, from the design aspect, proper redevelopment of the South African wild silk industry could encourage further involvement from textile designers. This would bring more improvement to the fabrics produced and encourage their use in different applications.

Cotton possesses many characteristics that make it desirable to the consumer, and this has resulted in its usage in a broad range of products. Cotton, however, is a flammable material that is easily ignited and rapidly consumed. The flame retardant treatment of cotton is, therefore, an important textile process that has received wide attention over many years. There are a number of commercial flame retardant treatments available for cotton, the most common being phosphate-based. These treatments, however, often have drawbacks or have a negative impact on the desirable properties of the fibre and the challenge still exists for designing better flame retardant products and systems that are durable and have limited impact on fibre properties. The study considers the application of the sol-gel as a coating on fabric that was pre-treated with a phosphate-based flame retardant or as a means for applying a phosphate-based flame retardant. Both treatment methods were found to be suitable for imparting flame resistance to the fabric. The effect of various phosphate-based flame retardants on flammability and fabric properties such as colour, handle and strength was investigated and it was shown that a diammonium phosphate and urea combination gave the best flame resistance. In this regard, a flame resistance was achieved with a lower amount of phosphorous than was used in similar conventional treatments. The durability of the coating to rinsing with water and soaping with a detergent was also investigated. It was found that the flame resistance was lost after rinsing or soaping but the prevention of afterglow combustion was retained. It was shown that the preparatory treatment of the fabric influenced the sol-gel coating process and the flammability of the fabric. Mercerisation and bleaching of the fabric increased the “wet pick-up” during the coating process and improved the flame resistance. The influence of various factors was also investigated in further detail. The ratio of the sol-gel components, the delay after coating prior to drying (hang time) and the curing time were investigated using an experimental design. The curing time and the ratio of components in the sol-gel were shown to have the greatest influence on fabric properties and fabric flammability. It was shown that there is a trade-off between the desired high level of fabric flame resistance and preserving the inherent properties of the fabric such as colour, handle and strength.

Hydroentanglement is an important technique of bonding fibres to produce nonwovens using high velocity waterjets as the primary bonding tool. The work reported in this thesis addresses the gap in scientific knowledge and understanding, both theoretical and experimental, related to the impact forces and energy of the waterjets used in the hydroentanglement process. The current study focused on the impact forces and energy involved in, and the optimisation of, the hydroentanglement process. The results of the experimentally measured waterjet impact forces have been used to characterise the waterjets as well as to verify empirically the theoretical models currently available for explaining the mechanics of the hydroentanglement process. Since the process of supplying pressurised waterjets consumes a great deal of energy, the study of energy consumption and efficiency of the system has been critical. A method was proposed and used to determine the coefficients of velocity and water discharge of an industrial machine set-up, helping explain the mechanism of energy transfer during hydroentanglement and to concurrently optimise the process. Furthermore, a response surface experimental design was used to optimise the hydroentanglement of viscose and Polylactic acid (PLA) fibres into nonwovens. The selected Box-Behnken design, with four factors, namely the waterjet force, machine processing speed, input weight and fibre type, was employed to investigate the multivariate process factors and their interactive effects on physical and mechanical properties of nonwovens. Two sets of experiments, the later for validation, were performed to study the energy transfer efficiency. The results of the relative energy transfer to bond the fibrous web showed that it was possible to produce nonwovens using lower input energy without compromising the quality of the products. The optimum waterjet pressure and machine speed used to produce the Abstract nonwoven with the highest tensile strength for the least amount of energy supplied were identified.

This dissertation examines how North Korea’s version of nationalism was constructed by taking a material thing as my point of departure. Vinalon is a kind of synthetic fiber developed by a Korean scientist during the Japanese colonial era. North Korea succeeded in the industrial production of vinalon in 1961. The construction of the Vinalon Factory in Hamhŭng was completed by North Koreans using their own resources and manpower. Unlike nylon, which uses oil as the main raw material, vinalon uses locally-mined anthracite and limestone as the main raw materials. For these reasons, North Korea was proud of the industrialization of vinalon, eventually giving it the title of “Juche [self-reliance] fiber.” Although North Korea emphasizes solely its self-reliant aspect, vinalon has had a global history from the colonial period to the post-war era. I argue that the global network of technological knowledge made the industrial production of vinalon possible and that the industrialization of vinalon was a historically contingent process of experimentation. Uncovering the global history behind the industrialization of vinalon and probing vinalon as a material produced in the dynamics between Juche and the global, my work contributes to the rethinking of U.S.-Soviet-centered Cold War scholarship by investigating Second World-Second World and Second World-Third World relationships. Furthermore, focusing on the agency of the vinalon products in people’s everyday lives, my project explores how vinalon threaded North Korea’s Juche discourse through a variety of products that penetrated into the everyday and the gendering of those products. By analyzing the interaction between the scientific and the socio-political realms on the one hand and by exploring how the Mother Party discourse became embodied in the form of the material vinalon on the other hand, my dissertation goes beyond the politics-centered narrative that has dominated scholarly work on North Korean ideology. In this dissertation, I utilize diverse sets of textual, material, and visual sources, as well as interviews, while combining methods from social and global history, material culture studies, history of science and technology, gender studies, and STS studies. Each chapter of the dissertation explores different aspects of the social life of vinalon in North Korea. Chapter 1 investigates how the industrialization of vinalon allowed North Korea to promote its legitimacy as a postcolonial independent nation-state while contributing to the expansion of the Juche discourse, providing background on the processes through which vinalon was invented and industrialized. This chapter shows that the successful industrialization of vinalon and subsequent fetishization of Juche science facilitated the formulation of Juche ideology in middle to late 1960s North Korea. Chapter 2 uncovers the global history that enabled vinalon to be industrialized, focusing on the global circulation of technological knowledge from the colonial period to the 1960s. This chapter also traces how the vinalon industry developed differently in Japan and China in response to changes in the world chemical industry. Chapter 3 explores the social conditioning processes in which people’s perceptions of vinalon were constructed through their interactions with the state’s promotion of science, particularly in the form of literature. Taking a look at how the popularization of science and vinalon products consumed in the everyday lives of the people were connected to the construction of North Korean national identity, this chapter uses the case study of vinalon to examine the crossroads where science, the masses, and national identity intersect. Chapter 4 deals with how vinalon played the role of a maternal artifact that embodies the leader’s love for the people as well as the discourse of the Mother Party. Here I probe how the affective aspects of the fiber based on its materiality and representation contributed to the process of making the Mother Party discourse stronger and more pervasive. Chapter 5 addresses how the uses of vinalon in the realm of the everyday have changed over time, what role vinalon played in the process by which North Korea reinforced nationalism in response to social crises, and how vinalon has been consumed in the process of constructing an ideological fabric of North Korea today. Clothes, socks, blankets, scarfs, bags, and other products made from vinalon became the objects by which people directly experienced Juche in their daily lives. By looking at vinalon as a thread that played a pivotal role in weaving the Juche discourse into North Korean society, my dissertation shows that vinalon acted as an effective vehicle to project North Korea’s Juche materially and discursively in the people’s everyday lives.

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