Classic Battery Terminals

[DanLewis]

Does anyone know what the terminals for the classics were made from? Some of the gold plating on my 35's negative terminal is flaking off and I can see that the metal beneath is silver in color, but it does not seem to have any rust on it. Could it be stainless steel? Or maybe copper plated in something before the gold plating?

When I received my HP-65 about 2 years ago, the gold plating was completely gone and it looked like the terminal was made of copper. I tried hammering some 14 gauge copper wire flat, but it did not have the same elasticity as the original terminal, so the battery connection was always intermittent. Now it has gotten to the point that the terminal is about to break because of excessive bending, so I'd like to make a new one, but I don't know what to make it out of.

Is there some type of heat treatment I could give the hammered flat wire to strengthen it? I'm not too knowledgeable in the materials part of engineering, but I think I would have better luck with some copper or brass sheet stock, like the stuff used to make the 65's card reader leaf springs. It seems to be a lot more flexible and elastic than the wire I hammered flat.