Interdigitated dielectrostrictive sensors are employed to measure shear stress, and for obtaining strain-dielectric and stress-dielectric coefficients to monitor a process, and examine quality of dielectric materials, including but not limited to polymer, composite, grease, food, biofluids and etc. Each dielectrostrictive sensor includes at least two interdigitated sensors, each having at least two electrodes and a central axis. The central axes are disposed in a common plane and are oriented at different directions.