ABSTRACT
One of the characteristics of a first-order wetting transition is the existence of metastable states such as the one indicated by the extension of the σsv curve above Tw, in Fig. 6a. Such a metastable state can be experimentally observed; its experimental presence then indicates the wetting transition being first order-by quenching the temperature to a temperature above the wetting transition. The system will then stay partially wet for some period of time, the nucleation time, before becoming completely wet [24-27].
