<p>The accumulation of multiple thermal cycles will change the complex heat and mass transfer behaviors in the molten pool, thereby have an significant impact on the evolution of dendrite structure. The cladding quality of parts has a direct impact. The pause time between passes directly alters the accumulation of thermal cycling and has an impact on the remelting and recrystallization behavior of the formed pre-cladding layer. Therefore, based on the 42CrMo laser cladding Ni-WC60 process in this paper, a macroscopic multi-field coupling model with different pause times between passes at a 50% overlap rate was established. The instantaneous evolution laws of the cladding temperature field and flow field were calculated and revealed. Taking the macroscopic calculation results as input conditions, a two-dimensional phase field numerical model for the dendrite remelting and recrystallization process at the top of the pre-cladding layer was established using the phase field method. The focus is on calculating and analyzing the dendrite remelting and recrystallization behaviors at the top of the pre-cladding layer under the influence of pause time. Research shows that the peak temperature at the center of the molten pool and the maximum velocity of the molten pool show a decreasing trend with the increase of pause time. The dendrite morphology at the top of the pre-cladding layer varies under different pause times. Without pause, it is mainly dendrites; after a pause of 0.5&#xa0;s, it is mainly equiaxed crystals; and after a pause of 1&#xa0;s, it is mainly columnar crystals.</p>