High-Performance Mono-Material Hybrid Yarns for Circular Sustainable Textiles and Soft Robotics

Novel yams for use in manufacturing fully sustainable textiles are provided. The yams can be composite yarns made of two or more monofilament or multi-filament yarns, including an elastic core and a sheath disposed around the elastic core. Each of the core and the sheath are made of hydrocarbons (e.g., polyethylene and various derivatives thereof) and/or other fully-recyclable materials. The perfor­mance of the resulting yams is on par with, if not better than, existing yams, fabrics, and fibers with respect to tenacity, elasticity, and auxetic performance. As a result, textiles can be made from the yarns, and then the textiles themselves can be fully recyclable such that the textile can be recycled and then a new textile can be formed from the same materials of the old textile. Methods of formulating the yams and textiles are also provided.