Cu-TiCx composites have been made self-propagating high temperature synthesis of Cu-Ti-C mixtures. It was found that as the C/Ti ratio decreases, wetting of the carbide, by what is effectively a molten Cu-Ti alloy, is improved and the distribution of the carbides in the master-alloy becomes ideal for subsequent dispersion, i.e. discrete particles are formed. Increasing quantity of Cu in the reactants from 10 to 50 wt% Cu had a similar effect to decreasing the C/Ti ratio and enabled the size of the TiCx particles to be varied in the approximate range 20-0.5 mu m. Incorporation and dispersion of the master alloy into molten copper was possible when the C/Ti ratio in the products was below approximately 0.73, which agreed well with contact angle data in the literature. (C) 2005 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.