A study of the wetting behavior of three substrate types (SiC, SiO2-derived RHA and SiC/SiO2-derived RHA) by two Al-Si-Mg alloys using the sessile drop method has been conducted, using amorphous and crystalline SiO2 in the experiment. Mostly, there is a transition from non-wetting to wetting contact angles, being the lowest theta values achieved with the alloy of high Mg content in contact with amorphous SiO2. The observed wetting behavior is attributed to the deposited Mg on the substrates. A strong diffusion of Si from the SiC/Amorphous RHA substrate into the metal drop explains the free Si segregated at the drop/substrate interface and drop surface. Although incorporation of both SiO2-derived RHA structures into the SiC powder compact substrates increases the contact angles in comparison with the SiC substrate alone, the still observed acute contact angles in RHA/SiC substrates make them promising for fabrication of composites with high volume fraction of reinforcement by the pressureless infiltration technique. The observed wetting characteristics, with decrease in surface tension and contact angles is explained by surface related phenomena. Based on contact angle changes, drop dimensions and surface tension values, as well as on the interfacial elemental mapping, and XRD analysis of substrates, some wetting and reaction pathways are proposed and discussed. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.