The axisymmetric motion of a fluid caused by an unsteady stretching surface that has relevance in extrusion process and bioengineering has been investigated. It has been shown that if the unsteady stretching velocity is prescribed by rb/(1-αt), then the problem admits a similarity solution which gives much insight to the character of solutions. The asymptotic and numerical solutions are obtained and they could be used in the testing of computer codes or analytical models of more realistic engineering systems. The results are governed by a nondimensional unsteady parameter S and it has been observed that no similarity solutions exist for S > 4. © 1995 by ASME.