From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmetal fatigueˈmetal faˌtigue noun [uncountable] TITEweakness in metal that makes it likely to break, caused for example by frequent shaking over a long period
Examples from the Corpus
metal fatigue• It is not just artistic ephemera which suffer from metal fatigue in the heat of ubiquitous exposure.• Cecilia attributed the marks to some kind of metal fatigue or rust. 