Film transitions of receding contact lines

When a solid plate is withdrawn from a liquid bath, a receding contact lineis formed where solid, liquid, and gas meet. Above a critical speed U_cr, a stationary contact line can no longer exist and the solid will eventually be covered completely by a liquid film. Here we show that the bifurcation diagram of this coating transition changes qualitatively, from discontinuous to continuous, when decreasing the inclination angle θ_p of the plate. We show that this effect is governed by the presence of capillary waves, illustrating that the large scale flow strongly effects the maximum speed of dewetting.