Laser post-treatment of Ni-Cu plasma-sprayed layer on copper substrate was conducted by pulsed Nd:YAG laser, and its sliding wear tests were investigated. Optical microscope (OM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations showed that, after the laser post-treatment processing, the obtained Ni-Cu coating had dense and homogeneous structure, as well as metallurgical combination with copper substrate, without cracks found. High microhardness of 347 HV of Ni-Cu coating was obtained, which was almost 3.4 times of Cu substrate (102 HV). The volume loss of copper substrate was nearly 4 times of the laser post-treated sample, under sliding wear tests. With the laser post-treatment of large area crack-free Ni-Cu coating on copper substrate, the seizure tendency of Ni-Cu coating was much more suppressed, resulting in the improvement of wear properties. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.