In this study, capillary extrusion experiments and rupture visualization experiments were carried out with a combined die configuration where two different dies were attached in a capillary rheometer. We observed that the gross melt fracture (GMF) and rupture of the melt occurred simultaneously when the diameter of the die located at the upstream position was larger than that of the die located downstream. However, when the location of the dies were interchanged, that is, the diameter of the upstream die was smaller than that of the downstream die, the upstream rupture did not accompany GMF up to a certain extent of shear rate. From these observations, we present a new theory on the origin of GMF. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 121: 2812-2817, 2011