A new Ti-Fe-C compound powder for plasma cladding was prepared by heating a mixture powder of ferrotitanium and asphalt pyro-lyzed as a carbonaceous precursor. The carbon by the pyrolysis of the asphalt acts as a reactive constituent as well as a binder in the compound powder. The TiC/Fe cermet coatings were prepared by plasma cladding with the compound powder. Results show that the Ti-Fe-C compound powder has a very tight structure, which can avoid the problem of the reactive constituent particles being separated during cladding. The TiC/Fe cermet coating presents a typical morphology of plasma cladding coatings with two different laminated layers: one is the composite layer in which the round fine TiC particles (