Dewetting patterns and molecular forces: A reconciliation

We studied the dewetting of thin liquid polymer films from solid surfaces. Our experimental results lead to a consistent picture demonstrating the int erplay between short- and long-range interfacial forces. Observations compr ise nucleation and spinodal dewetting, as well as thermal nucleation of hol es. The effective interface potential of the system, as reconstructed from the morphology of the dewetting patterns, agrees quantitatively with what i s computed from the optical properties of the: system. This shows that the assumption of additivity of dispersion potentials in multilayer systems yie lds good results.