The effect of laser surface treatment on the surface energy of copper plate was investigated in terms of the surface microstructure analysis and theoretical computation in this paper. The surfaces of the copper plates were treated by Nd:YAG pulsed laser with different powers. The microstructures of the treated copper plates were analyzed by optical microscopy and Xray diffraction (XRD), and the wetting experiment was performed to evaluate the variation of surface energy. The results showed that the surface microstructure and the corresponding surface energy of copper, changed with the variation of the laser power. The experimental results further explained by XRD results and theoretical calculation, demonstrated that the surface energy changed when the crystal structure in the surface layer was re-oriented in a preferred orientation after laser irradiation. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.