Keyhole formation as well as the geometry of weld profiles during Nd:YAG laser welding of ZE41A-T5 were studied through combining various models and concepts. The results indicated that weld width and fusion area decrease with increasing welding speed. In the case of partially penetrated welding, penetration depth decreases with increasing welding speed. Also, the model predicted that excessive decrease in laser power or increase in defocusing distance decreases surface power density, thereby changing the welding mode from fully penetrated keyhole, to partially penetrated keyhole, and then to the conduction mode. The predicted conditions for keyhole stability and welding modes as well as the weld profiles for various processing conditions were validated by some selected welding experiments. These experiments included studying the effects of welding speed, laser power, joint gap and laser defocusing on the weld geometry of 2- and 6-mm butt joints or bead-on-plates of ZE41A-T5 sand castings using a continuous wave 4 kW Nd:YAG laser system and 1.6-mm EZ33A-T5 filler wire. Good agreements were found between the model predictions and experimental results indicating the validity of the assumptions made for the development of the model. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.