Damage characterization and in-service performance assessment of advanced materials and structures are the critical scientific issues for manufacturing and operation of the critical equipment. Currently, the synchrotron radiation X-ray three-dimensional (3D) computed micro tomography shows great potential in studying the meso-damage mechanics of metals, and various in-situ loading machines compatibly mounted on the synchrotron radiation beamlines play a significant role in the real-time and high-resolution characterization of the microstructural damage evolution of advanced materials. This paper summaries the development and application of the in-situ loading devices based on the high-energy synchrotron radiation sources. The design principles and structures of insitu loading rigs which allow monotonic or cyclic deformation exposed to low or high temperature and vacuum environments are presented in detail. Finally, it is significant to dynamically image the damage evolution with the high spatio-temporal resolution by a combination of the imaging characteristics of the thirdgeneration synchrotron radiation sources, beamline construction of the advanced synchrotron radiation sources and highthroughput experiments. Particularly, to develop the multifunctional in-situ loading system integrating the uniaxial tensile or compression, low cycle fatigue, high cycle fatigue and super high cycle fatigue is an important work.