A fully electrical-magnetic-thermal coupled model is proposed to investigate the heating mechanism of induction cladding. The simulation results reveal that the coating and the thin layer close to the substrate surface were heated layer by layer. Furthermore, the non-uniform electromagnetic field generated an uneven temperature distribution, which had a larger impact in the longitudinal direction than in the cross section. The maximum relative errors between the simulated and measured temperatures indiacate that the numerical calculation fit the experimental results well. The impact of the non-uniform temperature distribution on the coating properties was experimentally studied. The specimen in the middle position had a more complicated phase composition, lower porosity, and higher microhardness than those at the two ends.