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• The Co-based alloy/WC/CaF 2 composite coating is fabricated by laser cladding to improve the fretting wear resistance. • The surface microhardness of the composite coating can reach to 600 HV. • The fretting wear resistance are significantly improved, which can lead to the decrease of the COF and the wear loss. • This work guide for the protection of heat transfer tube in nuclear power plants. The coating fabricated by laser cladding on the surface has been an effective way to strengthen and enhance the wear resistance of alloys. However, the traditional Co-based alloy coatings rarely pay attention to the addition of self-lubrication constituents to form the composite coating. In addition, the effects of the Co-based composite coating on fretting wear resistance were few addressed. In this study, a Co-based alloy/WC/CaF 2 composite coating was fabricated by laser cladding on the surface of 316 stainless steel to improve the surface hardness and self-lubrication performance. The microstructure, phase constituents and fretting wear resistance at both room temperature (RT) and 500 °C were investigated. Results confirm that the composite coating is consisting of α-Co, Cr 23 C 6 and WC phases. And the F element is effectively dissolved into the α-Co phase. The fabricated composite coating is dense and uniform. The microhardness of the composite coating can reach to 600 HV 0.2 due to the presence of WC and Cr 23 C 6 phase. In addition, the grain refinement is another reason resulting in the higher microhardness. Fretting tests demonstrate that the fretting wear resistance at both RT and 500 °C are significantly improved by the composite coating, which can lead to the decrease of the COF and the wear loss. The lower COF can be ascribed to the dissolved F element in α-Co phase, especially at high fretting temperature. Additionally, the composite coating can effectively prevent the oxidation during fretting both at RT and 500 °C. This work provides an excellent method for the metallic materials to improve fretting wear resistance at both RT and high temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]