Well-sintered polycrystalline cubic boron nitride(PCBN)composites with different contents of cubic boron nitride(CBN) were obtained using Al and TiN as additives under pressure of 5.5 GPa and temperature of 1450 ℃.The network structure of CBN grains and bonding materials was observed using scanning electron microscope(SEM).With the help of X-ray diffraction(XRD) analysis,TiB2 and AlN could be determined as main products and Al3 Ti also was detected in the Al-rich samples after sintering process.Furthermore,it was shown that Vickers hardness of composites was improved with the increase of CBN contents.However,the lifetime of PCBN composites was in negative correlation with the amount of CBN in turning GCr15 hardened steels,and the surface roughness of workpieces machined by these PCBN composites also showed the same trend.A series of cutting data confirmed that the low CBN content in PCBN composites could enhance the working durability and improve the surface quality in turning hardened steels.The present experiments also indicated that the lowest value of flank wear was not constant for different PCBN composites when they were used to machine several workpieces with different hardness.