Viscoelastic wetting transition: beyond lubrication theory

Abstract: The dip-coating geometry, where a solid plate is withdrawn from or plunged into a liquid pool, offers a prototypical example of wetting flows involving contact-line motion. Such flows are commonly studied using the lubrication approximation approach which is intrinsically limited to small interface slopes and thus small contact angles. Flows for arbitrary contact angles, however, can be studied using a generalized lubrication theory that builds upon viscous corner flow solutions. Here we derive this generalized lubrication theory for viscoelastic liquids that exhibit normal stress effects and are modelled using the second-order fluid model. We apply our theory to advancing and receding contact lines in the dip-coating geometry, highlighting the influence of viscoelastic normal stresses for contact line motion at arbitrary contact angle.