Two different types of phosphorus and bromine containing diester monomers, one containing a oxygen-phosphorus-oxygen bond and the other containing a carbon-phosphorus-carbon bond, were synthesized and their chemical structures were characterized by $^1H-NMR$ spectroscopy. Thus, bis(2,6-dibromo-4-methoxycarbonylphenoxy)phenylphosphine oxide(III) was synthesized by bromination of methyl-4-hydroxybenzoate followed by the reaction with phenylphosphonic dichloride. Bis(4-methoxycarbonylphenyl)bromophenyl phosphine oxide(VII) was synthesized by Grignard reaction of 4-bromotoluene with phenylphosphonic dichloride followed by oxidation, esterification, and bromination. Monomer III did not give a high molecular weight polyester when polymerized with ethylene glycol due to decomposition to starting materials via transesterification which was confirmed by thin layer chromatography. The conventional two step melt polymerization of the monomer VII and dimethylterephthalate with ethylene glycol, however, produced high molecular weight copolyesters. Transition behavior of copolyesters was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and their flame resistance was estimated from % char residue obtained from thermogravimetric analyzer. Copolyesters derived from monomer VII exhibited high % char yield, which is strong evidence of improved flame retardancy.

To prepare linear high molecular weight polyvinylalcohol(PVA) suitable for dry jetwet spinning, a low temperature initiator, 2,2'-azobis(2,4-dimethylvaleronitrile) (ADMVN), was utilized in bulk-polymerization of vinyl acetate(VAc). ADMVN showed equilibrium in polymerization at conversion 13% and 2,2'-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN), at 23%. Polyvinyl acetate(PVAc) obtained at 30℃ by ADMVN gave low degree of branch 0.6, value of which may be compared with 1.1 for PVA prepared by AIBN at 50℃. PVA saponified from PVAc obtained by ADMVN at 30℃ gave number-average degree of polymerization ($P_{n}$) 6000 while PVA saponified from PVAc prepared by AIBN at 50℃ gave $P_{n}$ 2800. However, the type of initiator did not have a notable effects on the tacticity of resultant PVA.

Polyurethanes containing various amounts of hard segment (HS) were synthesized with MDI, BD and PTMO of 1800g/mol molecular mass. The effects of HS content on the microphase separated structure and the deformation behavior were studied with FTIR, synchrotron SAXS and mechanical methods. It was found from the infrared dichroism method that the segmental orientation behavior was sensitively affected by the internal structure. Based on the dichroic results, a schematic model for the morphology of the segmented block copolymers containing different amounts of HS is suggested. As the HS content increases, the morphology changes from a soft-segment-continuous phase to a HS-continuous phas inversion was found to occur at around 50% HS content. The domain orientation and deformation behavior were also investigated with the synchrotron SAXS method. Using and one-dimensional detector and uniaxial stretcher, domains in which lamellae were oriented along the deformation direction were found to undergo expansion of the inter-domain spacing, i.e., d-spacing, at low draw ratio. As the draw ratio was increased further, the domain break-up and formation of new structure were observed for the polyurethanes of lower HS content. The mechanical stability of the hard domains was also found to increase with the HS content.

The effect of crimp geometry on the mechanical properties of nonwoven fabrics of different punching densities was studied. The theoretical modulus of crimped fiber assembly was derived and the three factors that affect the contact behavior between fibers in nonwoven fabrics were specified. If the crimped yarn has the same volume and orientation density function as the flat fiber, the contact points were increased proportional to the square of the crimp ratio. The crimp in the yarn acts as the slip barrier, which results in the decrease in slip portion of contact points as well as the contact point load, and thus it results in the increase of the yarn modulus. The modulus of the needle punched nonwoven made with crimped fiber varied with the contact length of the fiber. As the contact distance between two adjascent fiber decreases, the effect of crimp diminishes. These factors generally increase the modulus of the nonwoven fabrics. Especially in bending properties, the increased crimp potential and number of contact points contribute to the increase in bending rigidity along with increasing thickness. Post treatment of the nonwoven fabrics after needle punching removes the residual moment in the nonwoven system and it helps the resilience properties of the nonwoven.

In order to investigate the nonlinear stress relaxation behavior of viscoelastic polymer liquids at large shear deformations, the relaxation modulus G(t, r) of concentrated aqueous poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) solutions has been measured with a Rheometrics Fluids Spectrometer (RFS II) over a wide range of shear strain magnitudes. The strain dependence of G(t, r) at various molecular weights and concentrations was reported in detail, and the result was interpreted using the Doi-Edwards theory. In addition, the time-strain separability (or factorability) of the nonlinear relaxation behavior was examined by superposing the G(t, r) curve on the linear relaxation modulus G(t) surve through a simple vertical shift. The experimentally determined damping function h(r) was compared with the results calculated from some empirical equations proposed by earlier researchers, and finally the effects of molecular weight and concentration on h(r) were discussed. Main results obtained from this study can be summarized as follows : (1) The G(t, r) curve at small range of strain magnitudes shows a linear relaxation behavior, which is independent of the deformation magnitude. As the strain magnitude is increased, however, the G(t, r) curve deviates from the linear relaxation behavior and falls successively below the G(t) curve. (2) When sufficiently large strain magnitude is imposed on the highly concentrated solutions polymer of high molecular weight, the G(t, r) curve shows a more complex shape having the two inflection points. This behavior is due to the occurrence of a new relaxation process, and can be accounted for by the retraction process of primitive polymer chains in the tube, as predicted by the Doi-Edwards theory. (3) The G(t, r) is separable (or factorable) into a time-dependent function G(t) and a strain-dependent function h(r) when the time region is longer than the experimentally determined material time constant ${\lambda}_{k}$. The ${\lambda}_{k}$ increases with increasing molecular weight and concentration. (4) The empiricisms proposed by Wagner and Osaki cannot provide an adequate description to predict the nonlinear relaxation behavior. In contrast, both the Zapas and Soskey-Winter relationships are in excellent agreement with the experimentally determined h(r). The h(r) shows a stronger dependence on the strain magnitude with increasing molecular weight and concentration.

Tencel fabrics were treated with NaOH, mechanically fibrillated, and hydrolyzed by cellulase. X-ray diffraction method, moisture regain, and K/S value were used to elucidate crystalline structural changes brought about by cellulase treatment. Degree of polymerization and copper number of the cellulase-treated fabrics were also measured to estimate the effect of hydrolysis. X-ray diffraction studies showed that crystalline structure and degree of crystallinity were not much changed by cellulase treatment. On the other hand, as cellulase hydrolysis progressed, moisture regain and K/S value increased slightly due to the increase in specific surface area from formation of fibrils. The degree of polymerization initially decreased with enzymatic hydrolysis and then levelled off. Copper number increased, however, to a great extent at initial stages of cellulase hydrolysis and decreased gradually. The NaOH-pretreated fabrics resulted in higher degree of crystallinity, degree of polymerization, moisture regain, and K/S value, but lower copper number than those of the fabrics without NaOH pretreatment at the same cellulase treatment conditions. These results were attributed to extraction of short molecular chains from amorphous region during NaOH pretreatment and the opening of the structure of the amorphous region.

In order to investigate the relationship between the characteristics of fabric rustling sounds and the mechanical properties of fabrics, the rustling sounds of 18 selected fabrics were produced and recorded by the sound generator developed for this study. The sounds recorded were analysed in the forms of sound spectra presented in terms of sound pressure and frequency through FFT analysis. Sound spectrum of each specimen was fitted by Autoregression (AR). Coefficients of the functions were considered as characteristic parameters of the sound of specimens. Mechanical properties of specimens were measured by KES-FB. Relationship between characteristic parameters of fabric sounds and mechanical properties was investigated by correlation coefficients and linear regression. Tensile linearity (LT), shear stiffnesss (G), and shear hysteresis (2HG, 2HG5) showed significant positive correlations with $\alpha$, an AR parameter related mainly to sound loudness of fabric rustles. Through linear regression, the shear hysteresis (2HG) proved to be the most powerful property with relation to characteristics of fabric rustling sounds parameter ($\alpha$).

The objective of the research is to determine the effects of fiber fineness and silicone softener treatment on fabric hand. Subjective hand evaluation shows that the fabric hand was improved by increasing the fiber fineness. The subjective discrimination for the fabrics, however, was not significant between fiber fineness of 1.0 and 2.0 deniers. Strong correlations existed between the sensory hand measured and some of the hand values measured by KES. This result suggests that instrumental measures of KES hand values can be used to predict fabric hand without the use of sensory hand judging. The stepwise regression method was used for the prediction of fabric hand using KES hand values. In the stepwise regression method, a simple equation was developed by stepwise elimination of parameters of no importance without sacrificing the accuracy of the regression equation. In general, all predictive equations have the compressional energy (logWC) KES parameter and bending hysteresis (logH) parameter is in most equations.