A laser melting method for preparing rhenium films on permalloy substrates is proposed. Main processes of the method include melting of pressed rhenium powders on substrates by a pulsed Nd‐YAG laser beam to form around 30‐&mgr;m‐thick rhenium films, tightly bound to the substrates. Optimum conditions for the film preparation are investigated by computer simulation and experiments. Changes in density and thermal conductivity of a powder layer at the melting temperature are introduced in the simulation. It is demonstrated that, by using this method, high melting point films can be prepared on low melting point substrates.