## 1 Introduction  
Al-matrix composites (AMCs) offer lightweight solutions for the transport field, enabling significant progress in energy conservation and emission reduction. In addition, they boost a superior strength-to-weight ratio, a key property deeply desired in aerospace and military applications [1, 2, 3]. However, the challenge lies in balancing strength with ductility, despite the lightweight and durable nature of the Al matrix, enabling a serious threat to their adaptation in those applications [4]. While strength may increase with decreasing the grain size in the matrix in many nanostructured materials, at the same time it costs reduced ductility [5]. The limited ductility associated with nanostructured grain structures leads to a reduction in composite strain hardening capacity. On this occasion, Al-matrix composites with particulate reinforcement can typically provide several key advantages of superior specific strength and stiffness [6], enhanced wear resistance [7], and good structural integrity with property design flexibility [8]. Ceramic reinforcements with high modulus and strength, such as silicon carbide (SiC) [9], alumina (Al\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\)) [10], boron carbide (B\({}_{4}\)C) [11], titanium boride (TiB\({}_{2}\)) [12], aluminum nitride (AlN) [13; 14], zirconium boride (ZrB\({}_{2}\)) [15], titanium aluminide (Al\({}_{3}\)Ti) [16], magnesium silicide (Mg\({}_{2}\)Si) [17], etc., have been beneficial in enhancing the room temperature properties and softening resistance of these composites. According to research Al\({}_{3}\)BC (an Al compound)-reinforced AMCs (Al\({}_{3}\)BC/Al composites) show impressive properties: high modulus (100 GPa), strength (400 MPa), and reasonable ductility (6%) [18; 19]. In addition, excellent Al\({}_{3}\)BC-Al matrix interfacial bonding promotes the development of a heterogeneous grain structure and boosts strengthening in the Al\({}_{3}\)BC/Al composites [20; 21]. From a mechanical point of view, Al\({}_{3}\)BC has emerged as one of the potential candidates for reinforcing Al-matrix composites. Al\({}_{3}\)BC is a promising reinforcement for the Al-matrix composites due to several advantages. Firstly, reinforcing Al\({}_{3}\)BC is significantly easier than conventional reinforcements. Additionally, it requires only minimal additions of B and C to obtain a high fraction of reinforcing Al\({}_{3}\)BC in the Al-B-C systems, even among other aluminum-boron carbide phases, e.g., Al\({}_{3}\)BC\({}_{3}\), Al\({}_{3}\)B\({}_{4}\)C\({}_{7}\), Al\({}_{24}\)C\({}_{4}\), etc. [22]. Secondly, Al\({}_{3}\)BC particles act as good heterogeneous nucleating sites for the matrix, as demonstrated by [PERSON] et al. in Mg-ZA263 composites [22]. Notably, the unique distinctive crystal structure of Al\({}_{3}\)BC, rich in Al, offers an excellent combination of high hardness, like ceramic reinforcements, yet with a more metallic behavior [21]. Furthermore, the combination of properties of the Al\({}_{3}\)BC phase, such as low density (2.83 g/cc) compared to other reinforcements, e.g., Al\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\) (3.98 g/cc) and TiB\({}_{2}\) (4.50 g/cc), excellent thermal stability (up to 1700 K under 1.6-4.8 GPa pressure), high hardness (14 GPa), and remarkably high modulus ([PERSON]'s modulus 326 GPa and shear modulus 140 GPa), makes it a promising candidate for reinforcing Al-matrix composites [21; 22]. [PERSON] et al. demonstrated that Al-matrix composites reinforced with Al\({}_{3}\)BC particles show noticeably high room-temperature strength (775 MPa) and elastic modulus. Additionally, Al/Al\({}_{3}\)BC/25p composites, prepared via liquid-solid reaction (stir-casting) possess superior strain hardening ability [21]. Growing with such promise, [PERSON] et al. and [PERSON] et al. explored remarkable strengthening in uniformly dispersed nano-Al\({}_{3}\)BC-reinforced 6061 Al-alloy and AZ63 Mg-alloys [23; 24].