This review aims to provide a field guide for the implementation of mechanochemistry in synthetic polymers by summarizing the molecules, materials, and methods that have been developed in this field.

Embedded spiropyran mechanophores reveal and quantitatively map stresses in soft materials by changing their color.

A mechanochemistry based approach is proposed to detect and map stress history during dynamic processes.

This paper summarizes the recent progress of diverse high-performance fibers in their properties, applications and the challenges.