The working principle of laser cleaning paint layer is analyzed through the research data,and the stress of 5052 aluminum alloy surface paint layer is measured. The finite element simulation model of pulsed laser cleaning epoxy zinc yellow paint layer on 5052 aluminum alloy surface is established by ANSYS,and the influence of different scanning velocity on the temperature field and stress field of laser cleaning paint layer is analyzed when the laser power is 20 W,and the cleaning effect is estimated. The simulation results are verified,the experiment shows that the temperature field and stress field generated by laser can achieve the effect of removing most of the thickness of paint layer and peeling part of paint layer when the scanning speed is 1000mm/s； when the scanning speed is 600mm/s,the laser can remove all the paint layer and the the matrix is only slightly affected. The experimental results demonstrate the validity of the simulation model,which can use to select the process parameters and predict the effect of laser cleaning paint layer.