The nucleation and early-stage growth mechanism and kinetics of electrodeposited Ni-Co-SiC composite coating on carbon steel was investigated by cyclic voltammetry, current-time transient measurements and atomic force microscopy characterization. The conventional Guglielmi's model for metal-inert particle co-deposition was modified to consider the effect of the bath electrolyte hydrodynamics on amount of nano-particles deposited in the coating. It is determined that the nucleation and early-stage growth of the coating depends on depositing overpotential. At low cathodic overpotentials, it is between an instantaneous and progressive mechanism; while at high overpotentials, it follows the instantaneous mechanism. Addition of SiC nano-particles in the bath electrolyte reduces the electrodepositing efficiency by inhibiting nucleation and growth of metallic coating. An empirical model is developed to estimate the amount of nano-particles contained in Ni-Co-SiC composite coating during pulse electrodeposition. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.