Slip vs viscoelasticity in dewetting thin films

TL;DR

This paper investigates the roles of slip and viscoelasticity in dewetting thin films, revealing that in certain regimes, their effects are indistinguishable and challenging standard interpretations of experimental data.

Contribution

It demonstrates that viscoelastic relaxation effects are negligible or indistinguishable from slip effects in weak and strong slip regimes, and shows how strong-slip alters the fastest unstable mode.

Findings

Viscoelastic effects are absent or indistinguishable from slip effects in certain regimes.

Strong-slip modifies the fastest unstable mode in thin film rupture.

Challenges standard methods for reconstructing interface potentials from dewetting data.

Abstract

Ultrathin polymer films on non-wettable substrates display dynamic features which have been attributed to either viscoelastic or slip effects. Here we show that in the weak and strong slip regime effects of viscoelastic relaxation are either absent or not distinguishable from slip effects. Strong-slip modifies the fastest unstable mode in a rupturing thin film, which questions the standard approach to reconstruct the effective interface potential from dewetting experiments.