• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.85-93
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• 2013

The MCT has been most extensively used in the machining. In particular, the ball endmill has been mainly adopted for finishing on the free- form surface. The advancement of CAD/CAM software has made it possible to develop various cutting pattern methods and to create diverse tool routes. Therefore, the current research made an attempt to find the optimal cutting pattern among the seven cutting patterns (i.e., Follow Periphery, Zig, Zig Zag, Concentric Zig, Concentric Zig Zag, Radial Zig, Radial Zig Zag) when aluminium 6000 series were machined by the ball endmill. The optimal pattern was found by comparing different shapes and surface roughness produced by the seven patterns. The current research found that each cutting pattern produced its own unique geometric features on the machined surface. It was found that the Radial Zig cutting pattern produced the lowest roughness on the flat surfaces. The Radial Zig Zag cutting pattern was found to produce the most accurate free-form surface. Finally, the most efficient cutting pattern in terms of machining time turned out to be the Follow Periphery.