The manufacture of beta-Si3O4 seeds by self-propagating high temperature synthesis (SHS) presents some advantages, such as the low production costs, compared to other preparation methods based on sintering of alpha-Si3O4 powders and subsequent leaching out of the glassy phase. However, SHS process produces seed clusters that must be disentangled before use as reinforcing particles. Different mechanical and chemical treatments were tried to achieve good seed dispersion, proving that a combined treatment based on a hot basic etching and a short time attrition milling gave almost agglomerate-free particles with adequate features for seeding use. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.