The relationship between the critical shear stress for the onset of flow instabilities and the work of adhesion at the interface has been evaluated experimentally for a series of polyolefins on several steels, brasses, and coated steels. The critical shear stress was considerably affected by the chemical nature of the die. Low-surface-energy materials were found to produce smooth extrudates presumably by inducing slippage at the wall. Steel, tungsten carbide, and brass surfaces promoted sharkskin defect at shear stresses above the first critical shear stress. A linear relationship between the critical shear stress and the work of adhesion was found to be valid for values of work of adhesion smaller than approximately 30 mN/m. This indicates that slippage occurs due to a breakdown of the adhesion at the interface. For values of work of adhesion greater than approximately 30 mN/m a stronger interaction at the interface may induce a cohesive failure at the interface and subsequently, extrudate distortions.