A set of lubrication models for the thin film flow of incompressible fluids on solid substrates is derived and studied. The models are obtained as asymptotic limits of the Navier-Stokes equations with the Navier-slip boundary condition for different orders of magnitude for the slip-length parameter. Specifically, the influence of slip on the dewetting behavior of fluids on hydrophobic substrates is investigated here. Matched asymptotics are used to describe the dynamic profiles for dewetting films and comparison is given with computational simulations. The motion of the dewetting front shows transitions from being nearly linear in time for no-slip to t 2/3 as the slip is increased. For much larger slip lengths the front motion appears to become linear again. Correspondingly, the dewetting profiles undergo a transition from oscillatory to monotone decay into the uniform film layer for large slip. Increasing the slip further, to very large values, is associated with an increasing degree of asymmetry in the structure of the dewetting ridge profile.

We compare the flow behavior of liquid polymer films on silicon wafers coated with either octadecyl-(OTS) or dodecyltrichlorosilane (DTS). Our experiments show that dewetting on DTS is significantly faster than on OTS. We argue that this is tied to the difference in the solid/liquid friction. As the film dewets, the profile of the rim advancing into the undisturbed film is monotonically decaying on DTS but has an oscillatory structure on OTS. For the first time we can describe this transition in terms of a lubrication model with a Navier-slip condition for the flow of a viscous Newtonian liquid.

To characterize nontrivial boundary conditions of a liquid flowing past a solid, the slip length is commonly used as a measure. From the profile of a retracting liquid front (e.g., measured with atomic force microscopy), the slip length can be extracted with the help of a Stokes model for a thin liquid film dewetting from a solid substrate. Specifically, we use a lubrication model derived from the Stokes model for strong slippage and linearize the film profile around the flat, unperturbed film. For small slip lengths, we expand the linearized full Stokes model for small slopes up to third order. Using the respective model, we obtain, in addition to the slip length, the capillary number, from which we can estimate the viscosity of the fluid film. We compare numerical and experimental results, test the consistency and the validity of the models/approximations, and give an easy-to-follow guide of how they can be used to analyze experiments.