Based on the idea of survival of the fittest and natural selection. a class of parallel iterative algorithm with specific learning ability was introduced to find the optimal solidification conditions and produce 2024 Al alloy with minimum wear and maximum strength. This novel algorithm repeats evaluation, selection, crossover and mutation after initialization until the stopping condition is satisfied. Mechanical and wear properties of unreinforced 2024 Al alloy and composites with different vol.% of coated boron carbide particles were also experimentally investigated. It is seen that incorporation of hard particles to 2024 aluminum alloy contributes to the improvement of the mechanical properties and wear resistance of the base alloy to a great extent. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.