Soldering Vs Welding Vs Brazing | Trade Secret Revealed by Pro Welder

Welding Vs. Brazing Vs. Soldering!

The most confusing term you are facing right now that makes you crazy?

Fair enough!

You’ve heard the advice a million times; Brazing is similar to soldering and welding in that both are joining processes to join metals together.

But what’s the big difference between soldering vs welding?

It’s the question you secretly dread to ask a senior welder. Well, all of these use to join two separate metal or surfaces together. But the main difference is actually on the melting and the strength of the connection.

Want to know more about these terms?

Let me explain. Stay along.

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Soldering Vs Welding: Are Soldering and Welding the Same Thing?

There are several popular methods of joining metal. Such as:

• Brazing
• Soldering
• Welding

Of course, there are some common applications and advantages, but they are not the same. I’ll walk you through the whole process of comparison of brazing vs welding vs soldering.

In a hurry? Or lazy enough like me to read the entire article? Then feel free to check the quick comparison.

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What is welding?

For welding, it is important for the two metals to be similar. To give an example, silver cannot be welded to copper.

Meanwhile, Welding uses high temperatures to melt as well as to join two metal parts. Most of the cases, A filler metal is used. After the process is done properly, the finishing will be as strong as the surrounding metal. There are various types of the welding process.

So you want to know how welding works?

Welding is the process of melting the base metal to join to something else, usually the same metal. It may or may not require adding extra metal. However, Brazing and soldering melt the filler metal.

So if you want the strongest bond for your metal, then welding is the way to go.

What about the types of welding?

Well, there are various types of welding. Some of these are:

• Glass welding
• Flux-cored arc welding
• Electric resistance welding
• Electroslag welding
• Gas metal arc welding
• Gas tungsten arc welding
• Oxy-fuel welding
• Plastic welding
• Submerged arc welding
• Shielded metal arc welding

What is soldering?

Soldering is mostly similar to brazing. So first, let me discuss brazing.

So what is brazing?

As the names state,  brazing means to fix something.  A brazed joint is made differently from a welding joint. The main difference is in temperature – in brazing, it’s not necessary to melt the base metals.

Now come to the soldering definition. Soldering is more likely brazing, where an alloy flux is heated to the melting point and applied to a particular component.

Now let’s see the difference between brazing and soldering.

There are some major differences. The main difference between soldering and brazing is, the flux becomes molten at a very low melting point than brazing.

How strong is soldering?

Brazing and soldering, both can be strong enough. If the shape of the base part is quite critical, then brazing can be superior for your purpose. 

How soldering works?

Soldering joins materials or metals, together usually by melting filler metal into the joint. Hence, nowadays soldiers apply lead-free alloys for various applications in the plumbing and electronics industries using metals including iron, gold, silver, brass, and copper. These are also known as soldering metal.

Types of soldering are the following:

• Brazing
• Soft soldering
• Hard soldering

Distinct Contrasts Between Soldering Vs Welding

Of course, both work for jointing material. But there is some major difference. Let’s see some of these.

First and foremost, let’s talk about the joint. Welding joints are stronger, then soldered and lastly brazed joints.

Pretty interesting, isn’t it?

Now, look at the heating process. In welding, the metal base is eventually heated and melted. On the other hand, soldering doesn’t require any heating. Meanwhile, in welding, Mechanical properties may change because of heating. But soldering, it remains unchanged.

Wait, there is another factor.