Abstract: Since the invention of pressure/shear gas gun in the late 1970's,great advances have been achieved in the field of combinedpressure and shear impact loading and diagnostic techniques.The combined pressure and shear waves can disclose the dynamic shearproperty of materials directly, which offers additional informationof yield, damage evolution, failure, phase transition, interfacesliding etc. With respect to the dynamic behavior and mechanismof materials and the complete constitutive equations.This article summarizes the production methods of combinedcompression-shear plane waves, the measurement techniques, and theirapplications and advances in the investigation of pressure/shearplastic waves, dynamic high pressure constitutive equations,impact behavior of polymers, the shear wave tracing technique (SWT)and the failure of cement composites, dynamic friction response ofinterface, shock induced phase transition, and dynamic damage andfracture.