Mechanochemistry: A new tool to detect damage in polymers

Under mechanical loading, irreversible damage may occur within polymer networks. The accumulation of damage eventually leads to material failure. Thus, understanding the damage mechanism of polymeric materials is vital for their engineering applications, but this cannot be provided by pure mechanical testing. In recent years, mechanochemistry has provided a powerful tool to address this issue. The incorporation of mechanophores into polymer networks can enable reporting of the scission of chains through optical signals. Here, we review different types of mechanophores and the corresponding damage detection in crosslinked networks through chemo-mechanical coupled characterization. We further discuss how these mechanisms can be employed to develop damage models for tough elastomers. The insights from mechanochemistry can be employed to design novel elastomers and gels with enhanced mechanical properties.