Effect of powders refinement on the tribological behavior of Ni-based composite coatings by laser cladding

► Effect of milling time on the size, morphology, uniformity of the powders was investigated. ► Consecutive evolution trend of properties of a series of coatings was presented. ► The final optimized processing parameters selected play a basal role in further researches. ► Changes of friction and wear mechanism of coatings with powders of different sizes were discussed.