Abstract: In this paper, experimental results about the laser ablation of the LY12 aluminum alloy plates irradiated by pulsed Nd-glass laser pulses, including microscope photographs of ablated holes obtained by metallography and scanning electron microscopes are presented. Under tne experimental condition, both strong vaporization, and liquid phaseflushing effects occured. The ablation ratio was 360-500μg/J (when the plate at the principal focus), or 45-140μg/J (when the plate at 40 mm before the principal focus). For a high power laser beam with a pulse duration of 100ns, only the strong vaporization occured. with on ablation ratio of 4-10μg/ J.