many connectors and springs fabricated from copper-base spring materials require a gold-plated surface finish. often such parts are joined or interconnected to the electronic package by soldering with tin-lead solder. upon application of heat, the gold plating may interact with the tin contained in the solder to produce a brittle intermetallic compound. such a compound may adversely affect the fatigue resistance of the connector or spring. the effect of gold-tin intermetallic compound on the low-cycle fatigue behavior of two high-strength copper base alloys in wire form was studied alloys c72700 (cu, 9 ni, 6 sn) and c17200 (cu, 1.9 be) in the form of 0.009-0.011-in (229-279 mu m) diameter wires were gold plated using two techniques. immersion plating was used to produce a gold plating thickness of 5-10 mu in, (0.12-0.25 mu m). electroplating was used to produce a gold plating thickness of 30 mu in (0.75 mu m) on a second sample lot. tin-lead solder (60 sn, 40 pb) was then electroplated over the gold