Lead alloy strip material (4, 6, 8) is roll bonded on one or both opposite face surfaces of a core strip material (2). The core material can be commercially pure titanium, austenitic stainless steel, low carbon steel, copper, aluminum, alloys thereof or other suitable metal that has sufficient ductility and that can provide desired attributes of stiffness and corrosion resistance to the composite. The lead alloy material is strengthened by the addition of less than approximately 1% of calcium or antimony and the core material is softened by fully annealing it prior to bonding. The several strips are reduced in thickness, preferably in approximately the same proportion, by at least 40% in the bonding pass to create a solid phase bond among the strips. The bonded composite is then rolled to final gauge and, for selected applications, is corrugated and cut to form panels (20, 22, 24) and etched to form pockets (8b) for pasting of active materials such as lead oxide for battery plates.