Gas channel design plays a dominant role in determining the successful application of gas-assisted injection molding. Although empirical guidelines for gas channel design have been proposed by the various equipment suppliers, quantitative criteria based on well-designed experiments have not been reported yet. In this study, transparent polystyrene plates designed with semicircular gas channels of different radii and with rectangular gas channels of different width-to-height ratios were gas-assisted-injection-molded to investigate the geometrical effects on gas penetration with various plate thicknesses. Plate parts designed with gas channels having four different types of cross sections but with the same section area were also examined. Molding windows and criteria for gas penetration were properly chosen so that the design rule could be defined quantitatively. The moldability index was also classified into five levels (excellent, good, fair, poor, and bad) based on the relative areas of the molding windows. From a plot of the moldability index versus the ratio of the equivalent gas channel radius to the plate thickness, we found that the ratio should be approximately greater than 2 for an appropriate molding window (fair moldability index) to be obtained. The dimensional ratio of the width to the height for rectangular gas channels also affected the moldability index under the same equivalent radius. Meanwhile, for four gas channel designs, both gas channel designs attached to the top rib provided better moldability than the other designs. This investigation offers part designers preliminary quantitative design and molding guidelines for choosing an effective gas channel design that allows the parts to be molded under an appropriate molding window so that the uncertainty in both simulation and process control can be overcame. Furthermore, this study provides a methodology for the establishment of quantitative gas channel design guidelines. (C) 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.