Abstract
A rubber cylinder (R) is pressed against a glass plate (S) through a liquid drop (L). The liquid film, entrapped between R and S, dewets and a R/S dry contact, consisting in a band bordered by two straight contact lines, is formed. A row of equally spaced defects, graved on the glass plate, is used to pin and to deform periodically the R/L/S triple line. We observe the relaxation of this line by interference microscopy and we study the relaxation time vs. the period of the defects, the viscosity of the liquid, for hard and soft rubbers. A naive model, based on the balance between elastic and viscous forces, gives a plausible picture for these observations.