A concise review of the effects of hybrid particulate reinforced aluminium metal matrix composites on the microstructure, density and mechanical properties

The area of aluminium metal matrix composites has seen considerable research done to further produce materials capable of meeting the current industrial needs of adequate material selection. This has led to improvements in both cost savings, mechanical properties and sustainability in production processes in AMMCs. This work attempts to highlight this point by adequately reviewing selected recent sources of literature which highlights the selection of reinforcements used in the production of AMMCs. The need highlighted earlier has been met through the production of MMCs reinforced using two or more particles defined as hybrid reinforced MMCs. Research to this end has reported the engineering of lightweight MMCs with improved tensile and compression strengths, hardness values, impact energy and corrosion resistance among others. Most of the research highlighted in this work has selected stir casting and powder metallurgy as their preferred route for the production of the MMCs. The works reviewed in this paper suggest the importance of materials regarded as ‘waste’ as investigations done in hybrid reinforced MMCs.