Plated copper alloys are widely used in electron industry. The plating lay caused the farther decreasing of the welding property of copper alloys, whose intrinsic weldability was poor. In this paper, the bronze and brass specimens with nickel-tin double plating layer were joined by resistance spot welding method. The microstructure and peel strength of the joints were investigated. The experiment results show that a sandwich-like structure was obtained in the faying surface after welding, and the nickel plating layer thickness had severe effect on the reliability of the joints. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.