## 1 Introduction  
Laser cladding is a coating technology, which use the high-energy laser beam irradiating on the substrate surface and powder, causing the powder rapid melting and cooling to form the desired metallic bond coating with the substrate [1; 2; 3]. Due to the high energy density, high efficiency, outstanding mechanical and physical properties, laser cladding has been widely used on surface restoration to form low dilution rate condensed coating for multiple purposes [4; 5]. Composite material coating restoration has been rapidly developed in the recent years [6; 7]. The 316L stainless steel powder is widely used in industry because of its low cost, corrosion resistance, and self-fluxing [8]. However, the limitation of 316L also exists due to its low hardness and inadequate wear resistance [9]. With the development of composite material, these limitations could be improved by adding reinforcement particles [10]. SiC particle possesses the advantage of high micro-hardness and wear resistance. Thus, SiC is a favorable reinforcement material used in composite materials [11]. This study focuses on investigating the micro-hardness and wear resistance of the cladding layer manufactured by SiC reinforced 316L stainless steel powder in laser cladding. [PERSON] et al. found the micro-hardness and corrosion resistance of 316L were effectively improved by conducting the laser cladding in the solution with 3.5 wt% NaCl [12]. [PERSON] et al. studied the selective laser cladding with 316L and Inconel 718. They found the contacting zone between these two materials had different micro-hardness and micro-structure, with pores and cracks [13]. [PERSON] et al. investigated 316L coating on the AISI 1018 steel substrate, and found the nano-indentation hardness was reduced with the increasing scanning speed [14]. [PERSON] et al. deposited Al, Si, Ti and SiC composite coating on ZE41 magnesium alloy. They discovered that the micro-hardness and mechanical property was improved with ratio of alloying elements [15]. [PERSON] et al. manufactured SiC reinforced Haynes 282 (HY282) functional gradient super alloy with different SiC composition, structure and property. They found the micro-hardness and wear resistance of the super alloy were significant improved with the increased SiC particles composition [16]. [PERSON] et al. produced 8.5 vol% SiC/AlSi10 Mg SiC ceramic reinforced Al-based composites by selective laser melting. They addressed that the nano-hardness and elastic modulus in the center and boundary were better than the conventional materials [17]. Regarding multiple objectives optimization, [PERSON] et al. designed a polynomial model of dilution rate and residual stress through response surface methodology. The minimal dilution rate and residual stress was obtained by using the quadratic models as the constraint functions and multi-objective quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization. In the end, the optimal processing parameters were achieved and high entropy alloy coating was produced [18]. [PERSON] developed an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), which is capable to model the response based on the processing parameters in the laser powder deposition process. The prediction accuracy was improved by associating the ANFIS with imperialist competitive algorithm [19]. [PERSON] et al. utilized Taguchi orthogonal array (OA) to reduce number of experiments and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) to complete multiple objectives optimization in the laser cladding. The improved micro-hardness and wear resistance of the gradient composite coating were predicted and verified by ANOVA method [20]. The current research focus on 316L stainless steel powder laser cladding are primarily concentrated on improving the micro-hardness and wear resistance by adding reinforcement material [21; 22; 23]. The influence of laser cladding processing parameters and reinforcement composite composition on the micro-hardness and wear volume in the cladding layer was rarely discovered.