Slip casting and subsequent pressureless sintering (PLS) allow the preparation of complex-shaped and large-sized Ti₃AlC₂ components for many potential applications. The behaviors of the suspensions, green compacts, and sintered samples of Ti₃AlC₂ were studied in this paper. The optimized condition of 1 wt% of arabic gum as dispersant at pH = 10 results in a Ti₃AlC₂ suspension for slip casting Ti₃AlC₂ green compacts without macro defects or cracks. The sintering temperature and Al₄C₃ embedding powder are found to dominate the properties of the sintered Ti₃AlC₂ samples. The Ti₃AlC₂ sample sintered at 1450 ℃ for 1.5 h with Al₄C₃ embedding powder reaches the best properties, namely 95.3% relative density, hardness of 4.18 GPa, thermal conductivity of 29.11 W·m^-1·K^-1, and electrical resistivity of 0.39 μΩ·m. The findings in this work may pave the way for the application of MAX phases with large size and complex shape.

New Ag/Ti₂SnC (Ag/TSC) composites with uniform microstructure were prepared by powder metallurgy. The superior wettability between Ag and Ti₂SnC was confirmed with a contact angle of 14°. Arc erosion properties of Ag/10wt%Ti₂SnC (Ag/10TSC) and Ag/20wt%Ti₂SnC (Ag/ 20TSC) contacts were investigated under 400 V/100 A/AC-3 and compared with Ag/CdO contact. The Ag/10TSC contact exhibited comparable arc erosion property to Ag/CdO contact. The fine arc erosion resistance was attributed to the good wettability between Ti₂SnC and Ag, the good heat-conducting property of Ag/10TSC, and the slight decomposition of Ti₂SnC that absorbed part of electric arc energy. The excessive Ti₂SnC significantly decreased the thermal conducting property of the Ag/20TSC composite, resulting in the severe heat accumulation that decomposed Ti₂SnC and deteriorated arc erosion property. The oxidation behavior of Ti₂SnC under high electric arc temperature was also studied and then an arc erosion mechanism was proposed to get a comprehensive understanding on the arc erosion property of Ag/TSC composites.

Ti₂PbC was synthesized for the first time by pressureless reaction synthesis using Ti/Pb/TiC as starting materials at a heating rate of 2 ℃/min and holding at 1370 ℃ for 2 h in a tube furnace protected by Ar atmosphere. The effects of starting powders, heating rates, and holding temperatures on the formation of Ti₂PbC were investigated. It was found that elementary mixture of Ti/Pb/C or higher heating rates fail to form Ti₂PbC. The decreased lattice parameters in the synthesized Ti₂PbC indicated the existence of Pb vacancies in the compound. A reaction mechanism was proposed to explain the formation of Ti₂PbC.