Composites based on Nb3(Fe, Al)3 C η-carbide obtained by mechanical alloying are studied. Microstructural and quantitative phase analyses are performed. The phase composition, the density and the hardness are determined. It is shown that mechanical fusion of the elemental components in liquid hydrocarbon followed by annealing can be used to synthesize an Nb3(Fe, Al)3 C η-carbide phase. Spark plasma sintering is used to obtain a composite based on η-carbide (60 wt.%). The other phases are Nb5Al3Cx, Nb3Al, Nb, Nb2C and about 5 wt.% graphite nanoplatelets. The composite has a density of 5.11 ± 0.05 g/cm3, a porosity of about 20%, and a hardness of 1.4 ± 0.6 GPa and virtually does not wear under dry friction with hardened steel balls and balls from alloy VK6. © 2023, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.