With the ever-increasing emphasis on global decarbonisation, lightweight components and associated materials selection continues to be a pivotal area in the optimisation of existing products and future concepts. An expansion of existing application areas for the family of light metals can be realised through the development of innovative Metal Matrix Composite (MMC) materials, allowing tailored properties to meet specific application needs. There are a lot of options for the metal matrix such as Aluminium, Magnesium and Titanium amongst others, as well as the reinforcement including Alumina (Al₂O₃), Boron Carbide (B₄C), Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Titanium Diboride (TiB₂). In particular, reinforcement of aluminium alloys with SiC particles can produce low-density materials with enhanced mechanical and physical properties. Such MMCs can provide attractive solutions for lightweight structures due to their high specific stiffness and specific strength.

Manufacture of MMCs via a powder metallurgy route utilising a novel mechanical alloying process has been shown to enable a refined grain structure and isotropic mechanical and physical properties. This route ensures production of MMCs with a homogeneous distribution of ultrafine to nanoscale SiC particles within the matrix alloy, resulting in good machinability via conventional techniques in contrast to traditional MMC materials. This technology has proven successful with a variety of aluminium alloys and SiC contents ranging from 15 to 40 vol.%, with fabrication to forged, extruded and rolled forms possible. Due to the high specific stiffness and fatigue performance, weight savings versus titanium alloys and steels, high wear resistance and low friction characteristics, these MMCs are of interest for a variety of high-performance applications across the aerospace, defence and automotive industries, amongst others. Here, the microstructure, properties, and applications of these MMCs will be presented and discussed.