Comparison between analytical and experimental roughness values of components created by incremental forming

In the following work, a comparison is made between the analytical and the experimental values of the surface roughness of components created by incremental forming, a highly flexible innovative sheet metal forming process. This work provides a previous description of a predictional model for the evaluation of two parameters of amplitude and one of spacing of the surface roughness; taking geometrical considerations as a starting point, these parameters are described depending on the tool radius, the vertical step and the slope angle of components created by incremental forming. An experimental campaign is then carried out, creating components with the shape of pyramid frusta; the tests, which take sheets of an aluminum alloy widely used in forming processes and for reasonable values of the key parameters, provide useful information to highlight the differences between the predictional model previously described and the effective values of the surface roughness.