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• Al-7075 was reinforced by different contents of Fe-based metallic glass particles. • The composites were prepared by spark plasma sintering and hot extrusion. • The composites possess higher mechanical properties than unreinforced Al-7075. • The composites are reinforced mainly by thermal mismatch and grain refinement. Metallic glass (MG) reinforced aluminum matrix composites (AMCs) have attracted the interest of many researchers in the past few years. In this study, Fe 50 Cr 25 Mo 9 B 13 C 3 metallic glass (FMG) particles reinforced 7075 aluminum matrix (Al-7075) composites were prepared by spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique. The microstructure of the composites showed good interface bonding between the FMG particles and the matrix. The micro-hardness of the composite with 30 vol% FMG particles reached 160.63 HV, which was increased by 30% compared with that of Al-7075 (119.3 HV). The ultimate compression strength (UCS) of the composite was also improved significantly from 596 MPa for Al-7075 matrix to 749 MPa for the composite reinforced with 30 vol% FMG particles, and the compression strain of the composite reached 22%. These results indicate that the mechanical properties of the composites can be enhanced by adding high volume fraction FMG particles. The enhancement of the strength is resulted from multiple strengthening mechanisms, and the main contributions come from the thermal mismatch and grain refinement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]