The dynamic and steady shear flow properties of a polyamide-12 melt layered silicate nanocomposite were studied as a function of the silicate volume fraction (phi. In the dilute regime, the results were discussed in terms of intrinsic viscosity. Above a volume fraction threshold phi(p) similar to 1.5%, and below a critical strain gamma(c),, the storage and loss moduli were shown to exhibit a low-frequency plateau, G'(0) and G ''(0), and the flow curve was shown to exhibit an apparent yield stress tau(y). The study of G'(0), gamma(c), and tau as a function of showed that the energy needed for removing connectivity on a mesoscale did not depend on the silicate loading. These original properties were attributed to the existence, in the quiescent state, of mesoscopic domains composed of correlated silicate layers. Moreover, the steady shear response of all samples at solid volume fractions above phi(p) showed the existence of a critical shear rate similar to 1 s(-1), separating a behavior governed by the networked domains from a behavior dominated by the polymer matrix. (c) 2005 The Society of Rheology.