This paper reported the findings that copper-coated tungsten (W@Cu) powders were successfully fabricated by intermittent electrodeposition. The influence of process parameters such as stirring frequency, load of tungsten powders, current density and deposition time were investigated. As-coated tungsten powders were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The optimum technical parameters were established for preparing W@Cu composite powders. The composite powders with uniform, dense, and consistent Cu coating were obtained under the conditions of tungsten powder content 8-12 g.dm(-3) in the electrolyte, current density 12-16 A.dm(-2), and stirring frequency 20-30 h(-1). The uncoated W particles were not observed after 22.5 min of deposition. W particles were homogeneously coated by copper in >30.0 wt.% of copper content The composite powders in the bath could be effectively prevented from agglomeration by controlling proper stirring frequency and current density. The W@Cu powders with a copper coating thickness of similar to 2.5 mu m and with copper content of similar to 54 wt.% were produced without copper adhering to the cathode plate. The nucleation mechanisms of copper electrodeposition were examined by fitting the experimental chronoamperogram data into Scharifker-Hills nucleation models. The results indicated that copper nucleates according to instantaneous nucleation mechanisms under the high current density. High current density is necessary to produce high over-potential and to increase the fraction of nucleation, which was beneficial to the preparation of W@Cu powders with dense, uniform Cu films. The findings laid a foundation for fabricating W@Cu powders with improved properties via electrodeposition. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.