In order to improve oxidation resistance and thermal shock resistance of Al2O3-C refractories, two groups of specimens were prepared with phenolic resin as binder, adding 0, 2 wt%, 4 wt% and 6 wt% commercial SiC or ZrO2-SiC composite powder synthesized from zircon respectively to Al2O3-C refractories, pressing at 200 MPa, drying fully at 250 ℃, and then carbon embedded firing at 1 400 ℃ for 2 h. Oxidation resistance and thermal shock resistance were researched, Phase composition was analyzed by XRD. The results showed that the oxidation of SiC in additives could protect carbon in specimens effectively and thus decreased the mass loss ration and oxidation area, and improved the oxidation resistance of the specimen. Thermal shock resistance was improved owing to the micro crack toughening of ZrO2 and grain toughening of SiC. In this experiment, the specimens with 6 wt% ZrO2-SiC composite powder or 6 wt% SiC powder had the best oxidation resistance and thermal shock resistance.