Abstract: Material configurational mechanics with application to describe the failure behavior of complex defects does provide an innovative way to predict the failure criteria load and assess the integrity of structures. First, the definitions of material configurational stress as well as the equilibrium equation, physical meaning, and the corresponding invariant integrals are obtained by the gradient, divergence, and curl operation of the Lagrangian function, respectively. Second, the material yielding, fracture, and final failure criteria are newly proposed within the frame of material configurational mechanics. Next, the proposed experimental technique provides an effective and convenient tool to evaluate the material configurational quantities by Digital Image Correlation. Finally, the concept of material configurational mechanics is used to evaluate the damage level of functional materials or structures, such as nano material and ferroelectrics.