Slow crack growth was measured in the perpendicular and parallel directions relative to the extrusion direction of the pipe. For five pipes from different manufacturers, the anisotropy factor, the lifetime to fracture in the perpendicular direction divided by lifetime in the parallel direction, varied from 1.2 to 4.7 for complete fracture and 1.4 to 4.0 for crack initiation. The degree of molecular orientation was determined by measuring the shrinkage that occurred when a pipe specimen was heated near its melting point. The amount of shrinkage correlated with the anisotropy factor for slow crack growth. The shape change after shrinkage was related to the flow pattern of the resin during extrusion and the cooling rate after extrusion.