Abstract: To prepare the SiC whiskers pre-added wear-resistant Ni-based cladding on copper alloy substrate for mold making, a 5 kW continuous wave CO2 laser was used with the deposition process parameters optimized. A Ni-Cu based cladding was thus deposited, where the powdered Ni1015 was provided for the laser cladding process to form a smooth surface layer bonded metallurgically with Cu substrate, whose grain-refining microstructure is homogeneous, compact, void-free and crack-free. Tested by OM, SEM and micro Vickers, the results showed that the layer's average microhardness is 150 HV higher than no-SiC cladding, about 3.7 times as high as that of Cu substrate (85 HV). Thus, the properties of the mold made from such a Cu alloy can be greatly improved when used in continuous casting.