[sandras]

So I'm reading about this material fatigue thingy. The idea is, that there's a limit (not for iron or titanium), of how many times you can apply a certain force to a piece of material, before it breaks. You can apply a very small amount of force very many times, or you can apply a very big force just a few times, and the piece of material will break. Do I understand this correctly? If so, how come our aluminum blocks in our civics just don't go cracking everywhere? I mean, an engine makes so many revolutions, and the forces aren't that shabby either. One thought I had, that maybe the heat from the combustion "resets" the fatigue? Thinking of annealing. But our engine run at like 90 degrees celsius, far too low for annealing. This fatigue thing makes me anxious. Help me understand. Thanks!