Rheological properties of nylon-1212 have been studied by means of Haake Rheometer. The effect of shear rate and temperature on the apparent vicosity of nylon-1212 was discussed. A correlation of non-Newtonian index with the temperature was obtained. The results showed that the apparent viscosity decreases with the increase of the temperature. With increasing shear rate, shear thinning of nylon-1212 was observed clearly. From the relation of the temperature dependence of the polymer, we obtained the viscous flow activation energy. We conclude that the apparent viscosity is sensitive to temperature at lower shear stress because of higher viscous flow activation energy, and the temperature affect on the apparent viscosity becomes weaker at higher shear stress because of lower viscous flow activation energy. We have investigated the creep and elastic recovery of nylon-1212. A creep test was carried out to define the linear viscoelastic range as 1.0 and 5.0 Pa for 195 and 190degreesC nylon-1212 melts, respectively. A time-dependent response was found for the creep and recovery phases at a lower applied shear stress. However, at higher shear stress, the creep and recovery phases were time-independent. (C) 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.