In order to visualize the process of laser polishing metal surface,a two-dimensional transient numerical model for pulsed laser polishing of 304 stainless steel is established in this paper.The evolution process of surface morphology of 304 stainless steel under the process of pulsed laser is simulated,and the evolution mechanism of heat transfer,melting,solidification and other physical processes in the polishing process is revealed.The simulation results show that compared with continuous laser polishing, pulsed laser will produce fine ripples on the polished surface,but the overall spatial curvature will be reduced,which can play a certain polishing effect. In the process of surface morphology evolution,the capillary force dominates the melt flow in the molten pool in the area with large surface undulation,and its main role is to eliminate the surface morphology with large area ratio;On the contrary,the thermal capillary force dominates,and its main role is to promote the redistribution of molten metal in the molten pool and further reduce the surface roughness.In order to verify the correctness of the simulation model,by comparing with the experimental results,it is found that the remelting zone depth of the model is consistent with the experimental results,and has a high simulation accuracy.