Contact Line Elasticity of a Completely Wetting Liquid Rising on a Wall

We analyze the contact line elasticity of a completely wetting liquid rising on a vertical solid wall. Since the liquid-vapor interface intersects the solid substrate with a vanishing contact angle, the line elasticity is nonlinear and differs significantly from the linear elasticity predicted for a partially wetting liquid. If the line is deformed by a localized force f and displaced from its average position by a distance η m , the nonlinear force/displacement relation is given by: f ∝ η m 3 . This nonlinear elasticity affects both the relaxation modes of the contact line and the contact angle hysteresis.