A review on recent developments of aluminum-based hybrid composites for automotive applications

Increased fuel cost and emission norms have pushed automobile sectors to produce lighter and more efficient vehicles. Reduction in overall vehicle weight, using parts made by lightweight alloys, result in significant reduction in fuel consumption. Aluminum-based matrix composites (AMCs) have been extensively used in automobile and aerospace industries owing to their remarkable mechanical and tribological properties. This review outlines the mechanical characteristics of aluminum-based hybrid composites used in automotive applications. The enhancement in the mechanical properties of aluminum alloys are required to use in automobile industries successfully. The literature has revealed that uniform addition of reinforcement particles has been found to be suitable to enhance strength and hardness of these composites. Moreover, the addition of soft reinforcement along with hard particles reduces the brittleness and improves wear resistance of the developed hybrid composites. It has been concluded that ceramic particulates such as silicon carbide (SiC), graphite (Gr), aluminum nitride (AlN), alumina (Al2O3), and boron carbide (B4C) would significantly improve the mechanical and wear characteristics of these composites and the agro-waste derivatives such as fly ash (FA), rice husk ash (RHA), and coconut shell ash (CSA) can be a potential substitute for the secondary reinforcements. Microstructures of hybrid composites fabricated at different wt% of reinforcement particles were found stable with uniform distribution. Overall, the present review concludes that aluminum-based hybrid composites have great potential to serve as substitute to monolithic aluminum alloy and single reinforced composites in automobile sector requiring lighter weight, high strength and enhanced wear resistance.