Films of silicone oils (or alkanes) deposited on low-energy surfaces (grafted silicone wafers) are metastable. We nucleate a dry spot at the center of the wafer and observe the rate of growth V=dR/dt of the dry patch of radius R. We find that V is (a) independent of R, (b) independent of the film thickness, (c) inversely proportional to the oil viscosity, and (d) very sensitive to the value of θₑ, the equilibrium contact angle between oil and wafer. At small θₑ, V{}θₑ³. All these features are in agreement with a recent hydrodynamic theory.
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Redon et al. (1991) studied this question.
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