Abstract In this work polycrystalline cubic boron nitride compacts (PcBN), prepared with and without binder, were sintered at 8 GPa and 1850°C using different processing times. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy were used to investigate the kinetics of plastic deformation during sintering. For compacts sintered in short processing times, both Raman and X-ray diffraction linewidths increased, indicating a high plastic deformation of the grains. For longer processing times (30–120 s) the linewidth decreased, tending to the value of the pristine cBN grains. This dependence on the processing time was interpreted as a result of the competition between the plastic deformation of the grains, dominant for short processing times, and the defect annealing process, which becomes significant for longer processing times. When aluminum binder was used for sintering, it was observed that the processing time required to recover the original linewidth is longer, and the maximum broadening of the lines occurs at a longer processing time compared to the case without binder. These results indicated that the binder phase significantly affects both plastic deformation and defect annealing processes.