Recent research progresses in Al-7075 based in-situ surface composite fabrication through friction stir processing: A review

•The surface modification of Al-7075 has been studied through microstructural and mechanical behavior with and without reinforcement particles through FSP.•Influence of processing parameters on material flow and heat generation has been studied.•Severe plastic deformations (SPD) in FSP are responsible for homogeneous distribution of reinforcement in matrix materials.•The enhancement in mechanical properties is attributed to the grain refinement.•Incorporation of micro and nano reinforcement particles enhances the tribological properties in Al-7075 alloy.•Finally, various defects observed during A7075 were analyzed and reported. Friction stir processing (FSP) is a new and exciting technique being extensively explored because of its thermo-mechanical surface modification which has the capability to enhance the mechanical, microstructural and tribological properties. Various studies were described on friction stir processed aluminium alloys using several reinforcement particles containing micro and nano size grains thereby the formation of homogeneous and identical microstructure. However, this review is mainly focused on Al-7075 alloy which is a potentially superplastic alloy for making metal matrix composites. In this review, the recent research progress in FSP is discussed in detail with particular emphasis on their preparing method, characterization and various mechanical properties including present challenges and future prospects. Though, a remarkable progress has been made during the past few years, the present status in materials processing is far from ideal, especially in obtaining desire composites by using single or dual reinforcements.