The main objective of the present work was the study of the effect of organoclay on planar shrinkage anisotropy of polymeric injection-molded products by means of a rheological technique, in conjunction with birefringence measurements, performed on polycarbonate/organoclay samples. Polarized optical microscopy at elevated temperatures revealed that the birefringence due to the ordered-silicate layers had a negative contribution to the overall birefringence of the samples. The maximum value of the calculated-order parameter based on these results was found to be near unity, indicating an appreciable degree of flow alignment for the silicate layers. Different states of silicate layer orientation, with some layers aligned parallel to the in-plane direction at the skin layer or partially tilted from the planar direction at the core region, were observed through the optical analysis along the thickness direction. The anisotropic shrinkage measurements showed that organoclay reduced both in-flow and cross-flow shrinkages, resulting in a low extent of planar shrinkage anisotropy. This can be attributed to the flow alignment of clay particles closely parallel to the in-plane direction. Prolonged relaxation of the flow-induced molecular orientation combined with faster solidification were also found to play an appreciable role in the decreased shrinkage anisotropy. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2012. (C) 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers