A rapidly solidified Cr 2 Ni 3 Si /Cr 3 Si metal silicide composite coating was fabricated on an austenitic stainless steel substrate by laser cladding and using Cr-Si-Ni element al powder blend.The laser clad Cr 2 Ni 3 Si /Cr 3 Si metal silicide composite coating has a homogenous mi-crostructure consisting of Cr 3 Si primary dendrites and the interdendritic Cr 2 Ni 3 Si matrix,and is metallurgically bonded to the substrate.The volume fraction of primary Cr 3 Si dendrites has a remarkable influence on hardness and wear resistance o f the laser clad composite coating.T he higher the volume fraction of Cr 3 Si,the higher the hardness and the we ar resistance of the laser clad composite coating.Because of the presence of large amount of hard,wear and oxidation resistant primary Cr 3 Si dendrites,the laser clad Cr 2 Ni 3 Si /Cr 3 Si metal silicide composite coating has excellent high-tempera ture wear resistance under high-tem perature sliding wear test conditio ns.