Dewetting at soft viscoelastic interfaces

The dewetting transition of thin liquid films (similar to100 nm) at soft viscoelastic interfaces is analyzed theoretically. It is shown that viscoelastic losses in the soft material can drastically increase the time to complete the dewetting. Thus, the influence of the thinning of the liquid film, due to the hydrodynamic drainage caused by the external applied pressure, has to be considered too. The squeezing pressure coupled with the hydrodynamic drainage may slow down the dewetting to almost zero growth rate of the dry zone; in this case a trapped rim of fluid should be observed. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.