Title: Multiple-steps step-stress accelerated life tests: a model and its spreadsheet analysis

Authors: Loon-Ching Tang

Addresses: Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, National University of Singapore, 1 Engineering Drive 2, 117576, Singapore

Abstract: We present a simple and yet powerful method for analysing data from multiple-censored, multiple-steps step-stress accelerated life tests. The method is a simplification of Tang et al. (1996) and its extension to handle interval data and other forms of censoring. To further simplify the procedure of analysing step-stress data, which has been made unduly complex in the existing literature, we implement the proposed method using spreadsheet programming on Excel. The corresponding templates for different types of data are presented along with examples taken from the literature.

Keywords: accelerated life testing; cumulative exposure; data analysis; maximum likelihood estimation; Weibull analysis; step-stress testing.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMPT.2004.004999

International Journal of Materials and Product Technology, 2004 Vol.21 No.5, pp.423 - 434

Published online: 11 Aug 2004 *

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