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This thesis explored the problem of creating an illusion of textiles from the beginning stages through the finished work. Included in this study were the reasons for selection of problem, motivation and media. In addition the solutions and interpretations were presented with references to personal gains and insights.

The use of fibre-reinforced polymer matrix composite materials is growing at a faster rate than GDP in many countries. An improved understanding of their processing and mechanical behaviour would extend the potential applications of these materials. For unidirectional composites, it is predicted that localised absence of fibres is related to longitudinal compression failure. The use of woven reinforcements permits more effective manufacture than for unidirectional fibres. It has been demonstrated experimentally that compression strengths of woven composites are reduced when fibres are clustered. Summerscales predicted that clustering of fibres would increase the permeability of the reinforcement and hence expedite the processing of these materials. Commercial fabrics are available which employ this concept using flow-enhancing bound tows. The net effect of clustering fibres is to enhance processability whilst reducing the mechanical properties. The effects reported above were qualitative correlations. Gross differences in the appearance of laminate sections are apparent for different weave styles. For the quantification of subtle changes in fabric architecture, the use of automated image analysis is essential. Griffm used Voronoi tessellation to measure the microstructures of composites made using flow-enhancing tows. The data was presented as histograms with no single parameter to quantify microstructure. This thesis describes the use of automated image analysis for the measurement of the microstructures of woven fibre-reinforced composites, and pioneers the use of fractal dimensions as a single parameter for their quantification. It further considers the process-property- structure relationships for commercial and experimental fabric reinforcements in an attempt to resolve the processing versus properties dilemma. A new flow-enhancement concept has been developed which has a reduced impact on laminate mechanical properties.

Cotton and wool have long dominated studies of the English textile industries, relegating silk manufacture to no more than a minor role in the British economy. Regional studies have likewise tended to concentrate upon areas dominated by a single feature or single industry. This thesis aims to address the economic and social impact of a silk industry established in the predominantly rural area of South West Hertfordshire. Here the indigenous population had other opportunities for employment, agricultural labour of various kinds forming the greatest occupational group. The straw plait absorbed female and child labour in the districts of Berkhamsted and St Albans, in direct competition to the silk mills, while the rag factories supplying the paper industry offered competition to the silk mills of Watford and Rickmansworth. Any industry dependent upon imports is especially vulnerable to external pressure, and an overview of the national situation regarding the silk industry in England, and of the particular problems besetting manufacturers during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, is therefore essential to an understanding of the situation in the rural semi-industrial districts. The chapters of this thesis therefore follow the story of silk production from the wider context of the national industry to the specific mills of Hertfordshire, asking first, why the establishment of an English silk industry was so important. Themes explored in later chapters are already discernible in the early history of the silk industry: the high involvement of women; the apprenticeshipo f children; the interventionist role of government; and the problem of the poor. The extent to which these factors impinged upon the relationship between master, worker, and the local district, and ultimately upon the viability of the Hertfordshire mills, form the central core of this study.

Thesis (M.S.)--Eastern Illinois University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 38-40).

Thesis (doctoral)--School of Design and Crafts (HDK), Faculty of Fine, Applied and Performing Arts, Göteborg University, Göteborg, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 125-129).

Thesis (MA--Art and Design) -- Auckland University of Technology, 2004. / Also held in print (72 leaves, col. ill., 30 cm.) in Wellesley Theses Collection (T 746 FRA)

Thesis (M.A.I.S.)--Oregon State University, 1992. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-100). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Auburn University, 2008. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 255).