Chemically complex MAX phase-based ceramics in the (Ti

Zr

Hf

V

Nb)-(Al

Sn)-C system were synthesised by reactive hot pressing for 30 min at 1250–1450°C under a load of 30 MPa for the first time in this work. The dense bulk ceramics contained chemically complex double solid solution MAX phases

each comprising five

M

-elements and two

A

-elements. The predominant 211 (Ti

0.23

Zr

0.18

Hf

0.20

V

0.11

Nb

0.28

)

2

(Al

0.42

Sn

0.58

)C MAX phase characterised all ceramics

while the 312 (Ti

0.23

Zr

0.31

Hf

0.31

V

0.08

Nb

0.08

)

3

(Al

0.36

Sn

0.64

)C

2

and 211 (Ti

0.26

Zr

0.07

Hf

0.07

V

0.47

Nb

0.13

)

2

(Al

0.66

Sn

0.34

)C MAX phases were only present in the ceramics sintered at 1350–1450°C. A limited amount (4–5 vol%) of parasitic phases (mainly

binary intermetallics) was found in the pseudo-binary carbide-free ceramics sintered at 1350–1450°C.