Polyethylene-based thermo-mechanically recyclable stretchable yarns for circular sustainable textiles

Abstract

Most high-performance elastic textiles rely on yarns composed of chemically dissimilar polymers, rendering them difficult to recycle. Here, we demonstrate fully thermo-mechanically recyclable stretchable yarns composed of polyethylene (PE) family materials. Inspired by structure-property relationships in natural materials, we engineer a library of melt-spun PE fibers spanning mechanical properties from elastomeric to functional by tuning polymer crystallinity and chain orientation. These fibers are assembled into core-sheath yarns comprising an olefin block copolymer elastic core and a high-strength PE sheath, forming a helical architecture. The resulting yarns exceed mechanical performance of commercial PET-spandex yarns while maintaining full recyclability. We further show that PE homopolymers and copolymers can be jointly melt-processed and recycled without phase separation or loss of performance. This approach enables stretchable recyclable textiles from fibers with previously demonstrated cooling, moisture-wicking and stain-resisting performance and provides a scalable pathway toward circular garments compatible with existing polyethylene recycling streams.