The paper is dedicated to the study of kinetics and combustion mechanism of reaction mixtures in Zr–Si–B and Zr–B systems, production of compact ceramic materials in a process of SHS compaction, as well as studying their heat resistance. The paper demonstrates that temperature and combustion speed dependencies of compounds in the Zr–Si–B system on the initial temperature (T0) are linear, i.e. with a rise in T0, staging of chemical reactions of zirconium diboride and disilicide formation does not change. The paper calculates values of the effective SHS process activation energy, which demonstrate the crucial role of the reaction interaction between zirconium and boron and silicon in a melt. The paper studies the staging of chemical reactions in a mixture Zr–Si–B combustion wave: initially, the ZrB2 phase is formed from the melt by crystallization, then the ZrSi2 phase appears with a delay of 0,5 s and 1 second later unreacted Si crystallizes. The paper studies the phase composition of synthesis products with diboride ZrB2 as a main component and zirconium disilicide ZrSi2, Si and boride ZrB12 depending on the initial reaction charge composition. The new compact samples characterized by high hardness and low residual porosity were produced in the process of power SHS compaction. Formation of oxide films SiO2–ZrO2–B2O3 along with the complex oxide ZrSiO4, which serve as an effective diffusion barrier and reduce the oxidation rate, occurs on the surface of SHS-samples in response to their high-temperature oxidation and depending on their composition.