  We perform numerical and experimental studies on the melting process of thin
films initiated by a small hole. The presence of a non-trivial capillary
surface, namely the liquid/air interface, leads to a few counter-intuitive
results: (1) The melting point is elevated if the film surface is partially
wettable, even with a small contact angle. (2) For a film that is finite in
size, melting may prefer to start from the outer boundary, rather than a hole
inside. (3) More complex melting scenario may arise, including morphology
transitions, and the "de facto" melting point being a range instead of a single
value. These are verified by experiments on melting alkane films between silica
and air. This work continues a series of investigations on the capillary
aspects on melting. Both our model and analysis approach can be easily
generalized to other systems.
