ABSTRACT
Both wetting and dewetting play an important role in many natural and technological processes. In a number of applications, surface wettability is macroscopically described by the equilibrium or, more frequently, by a static advancing contact angle. This description is mostly used to describe wetting properties of liquids on smooth, chemically homogeneous surfaces and pure liquids excluding adsorption and evaporation effects. However, such an approach is not sufcient for the description of a host of technological processes because the kinetic aspects should also be considered. In a number of applications, dynamic wetting and dewetting processes are of crucial importance. The spreading velocity is often an important criterion based on which the efciency of surface-active substances (surfactants) can be estimated.
