## 1 Introduction  
Copper reinforced with silicon carbide is widely used in various industries because of its thermophysical (low thermal expansion coefficient and high thermal conductivity) and mechanical properties (high specific strength and wear resistance) [1]. The combination of such unique properties of Cu and SiC determines the application of Cu-SiC composite material in the production of electronic circuits, power break electric contact, high-power electrical network switches and vacuum arc-quenching chambers [2,3]. The most promising direction of the use of Cu-SiC in practice is the high-tech sector of the micro- and nano-industry. However, the widespread use of Cu-SiC as a structural material in the production of microfluidic devices, which are used for separating and mixing micro- and nanoliter liquids, systems for ensuring the temperature regime in microelectronic devices, and 5G communication systems is unfeasible without studying its surface properties and developing ways of controlling small and ultra-small coolant flows on its surface. The processing of technological surfaces with nanosecond laser radiation is a relatively new, science-based, technically simple and non-contact method for changing the surface properties of materials. It is applicable to parts of complex geometric shapes on an industrial scale [4]. Laser processing of materials allows changing the electrical properties, e.g., imparting conductive properties to a non-conductive material (diamond) [5], as well as modifying thermal properties, e.g., increasing thermal insulation performance of a coating [6]. In addition, it allows creating a given type of texture, roughness and radically changing the elemental composition of the near-surface layer [7]. This makes it possible to control (intensity or suppress) heat transfer, mass transfer, and chemical reaction occurring on technological surfaces modified by laser radiation. In this case, a key factor is surface wetting, which can be changed by laser processing of surfaces to extreme states (superhydrophilicity/superhydrophobicity) [8]. Nowadays, it is well known that it is possible to significantly increase the resistance to corrosion [9], biofouling [10], organic contaminations [11], abrasive and cavitation wear [12], icing [13], and change the reflective ability of electromagnetic radiation [14] by processing surfaces with laser radiation. By setting the laser radiation parameters when processing the surface of a material, taking into account its optical and thermal properties, it is possible to form texture elements of various geometric shapes and sizes (from micro- to nano-scale) and supplement the main elements of texture with smaller-scale aggregates. Based on analysis of well-known works, it has been found that using laser radiation of different durations, including pico- [15], femto- [16; 17] and nanosecond [18; 19], when processing the surface of the same material, in particular steel, it is possible to achieve similar specified extreme wettability properties. Immediately after laser processing, metal surfaces are superhydrophobic [20]. Wetting improvement after processing is explained by the oxide film formation [21]. Oxides are polar compounds; the surface energy of metals and their alloys increases after laser processing, therefore, water droplet spreads into a thin film on such surfaces. The inversion of wetting from superhydrophilicity to hydrophobicity of surfaces modified by laser radiation happens during storage under atmospheric conditions. Such changing of the surface wetting properties of metals is known as spontaneous hydrophobization [22]. The deterioration of wetting properties over time is due to the fact that hydrocarbon compounds from the environment are adsorbed on the surface [22; 23]. These are non-polar compounds, so the surface energy of a metal or alloy textured by laser radiation decreases and, as a result, the wetting properties deteriorate (the contact angle increases).