ADI (austempered ductile iron) has the unique advantages of high toughness and wear resistance, but it is a kind of difficult-to-machine material because of the larger machining force and high machining temperature in machining. In this paper, the influence of process parameters on the machining force is studied by turning test, and the quadratic response surface regression model of machining force is established. The results show that the primary machining force (Fx
) decreases when cutting-speed v increases, which is due to the softening of the cutting layer of the ADI when feed-rate f increases, and the strength and hardness decrease accordingly. When the feed-rate f and cutting-depth a
p increase, the Fx
increases rapidly, because the contact area of the cutter and workpiece in the effective cutting area becomes larger, and then the deformation and friction increase, leading to rapid increase of the Fx
.