**1. Introduction**

As an advanced material processing technology, laser cladding is a novel surface modification technique. Due to the unique characteristics of high energy density, rapid solidification rate, and high cooling rate, laser cladding has been widely used for obtaining better wear and corrosion-resistant coatings with minimal heat a ffected zone, reliable metallurgical bonding, and uniformly distributed fine microstructure [1–5].

In order to further improve the mechanical and physical and chemical properties of the coating, in recent years, the research on the performance of the composite coating has attracted much attention, and the reinforced phase ceramic powder has become a research hotspot. Among them, TiC is an attractive reinforced phase for improving coating properties for its excellent physical and mechanical properties, such as high melting point, high hardness, low density, and strong covalent bonding [6,7]. Ni-based self-fluxing alloy is also frequently applied for surface strengthening due to its good wear resistance, impact resistance, and excellent fatigue behavior at high temperatures [8–10]. Compounding the two and performing laser cladding is expected to obtain a new type of composite coating with more excellent physical and chemical properties. Some scholars have conducted related research and made some progress, but the raw material formulation of the multi-phase coating and the comprehensive mechanism of the e ffect of process selection on tissue performance are still in doubt. Therefore, this paper designed a full-factor experiment for Ni35A/TiC composite coating and attempted to elaborate on the influence of formula and process on the structure and the corresponding relationship between microstructure and friction performance.

At present, many scholars have studied the preparation and performance optimization of TiC-reinforced ceramic composite coatings, using di fferent raw material forms and molding methods to optimize the hardness, tensile strength, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, and other properties of the composite coatings, and they have made some progress. Hong et al. [11] used laser metal deposition technology to prepare ultrafine TiC particle-reinforced Inconel 625 composite parts. It was found that adding an ultrafine TiC particle could obtain a better columnar dendrite structure and could significantly improve the parts' tensile properties and wear resistance. Xu et al. [12] found that compared with pure Inconel 625 coating, the microhardness and tensile strength of TiC-reinforced Inconel 625 coating were significantly improved, and the addition of TiC-reinforced Inconel 625 coating also showed good corrosion resistance. Saroj et al. [13] used the TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas Welding) cladding process to prepare TiC-reinforced Inconel 825 composite coatings with di fferent mass percentages (20%, 40%, 60%). The results showed that TiC had an important e ffect on the morphology of the composite coating. The SEM structure and friction and wear analysis showed that as the TiC content in the TiC/Inconel 825 coating increased, the friction coe fficient of the composite coating decreased significantly. At the same time, through organization identification and performance analysis, scholars have further clarified the evolution and strengthening mechanism of the composite phase in the cladding layer. Sahoo et al. [14] adopted a pre-coating method and obtained a wear-resistant TiC/Ni composite coating using the TIG cladding process. It was found that the presence of TiC, Ni, and some intermetallic compounds in the coating a ffected the excellent interface bonding and coating. The main reason for the layer to obtain better wear resistance and TiC/Ni composite coating wear resistance is 70 times higher than the AlSl304 substrate.

Although a lot of research has been conducted on the performance of TiC composite coatings, there are few reports on the multi-factor coupling relationship between the laser cladding process parameters and the composite coating wear rate. After the pyrolysis of the hard phase in the cladding process, the directional growth of the hard phase in the molten pool with a significant gradient distribution of the temperature field brings the tip stress problem to be solved urgently. Therefore, in this work, a full factorial experimental design (L42) was proposed to investigate the e ffects of process parameters together with the weight fraction of TiC on the wear rate and microstructure evolution of composite coating.
