Advantages over welding

The lower temperature of brazing and brass-welding is less likely to distort the work piece or induce thermal stresses. For example, when large iron castings crack, it is almost always impractical to repair them with welding. In order to weld cast-iron without recracking it from thermal stress, the work piece must be hot-soaked to 1600 °F. When a large (more than fifty kilograms (100 lb)) casting cracks in an industrial setting, heat-soaking it for welding is almost always impractical. Often the casting only needs to be watertight, or take mild mechanical stress. Brazing is the premium, preferred repair method in these cases.

The lower temperature associated with brazing vs. welding can increase joining speed and reduce fuel gas consumption.

Brazing can be easier for beginners to learn than welding.

For thin workpieces (e.g., sheet metal or thin-walled pipe) brazing is less likely to result in burn-through.

Brazing can also be a cheap and effective technique for mass production. Components can be assembled with preformed plugs of filler material positioned at joints and then heated in a furnace or passed through heating stations on an assembly line. The heated filler then flows into the joints by capillary action.

Braze-welded joints generally have smooth attractive beads that do not require additional grinding or finishing. The most common filler materials are gold in colour, but fillers that more closely match the color of the base materials can be used if appearance is important.