Dewetting films with inclined contact lines.

Abstract

A partially wetting plate withdrawn from a liquid reservoir causes the deposition of a liquid film that is characterized by inclined contact lines. It has been experimentally indicated that the normal component of the contact-line velocity relative to the plate remains constant and is independent of the inclination angles, a fact that has never theoretically been justified. We demonstrate, in the framework of lubrication theory, that the speed-angle independence is only approximate and the normal velocity actually exhibits a weak decrease with the inclination angle of the contact line. This correlation is attributed to the variation of the effective separation of microscopic and macroscopic length scales. In addition, the inclination of the contact line results in a tangential flux of the liquid, which is confined in the vicinity of the contact line. Simple scaling relations are provided for both the normal velocity and the tangential flux.