Alumina/SiC nanocomposites were produced by mechanical mixture of commercial powders. The preparation steps involved the vigorous mixing of the powders and drying under conditions where the homogeneous mixture was kept stable, Pressureless sintering of die-pressed powders achieved reasonable densities (similar to 97% theoretical density) for 2.5wt% of SiC on sintering at 2073K. Higher SIC contents strongly reduced the sintered density. The use of a more reactive alumina (finer matrix powder) ...