New Inference for Constant-Stress ALT with Weibull Distribution and Progressively Type II Censoring

Constant-stress procedure based on parametric lifetime distribution and model is often used for accelerated life testing in product reliability experiment. Maximum likelihood estimation is the typically statistical inference method. This paper presents a new inference method, named random variable transformation (RVT) method for Weibull constant-stress accelerated life test with progressively Type II right censoring (including ordinary Type II right censoring). A two-parameter Weibull life distribution with a scale parameter that is a loglinear function of stress is used. RVT inference life distribution parameters and the log-linear function coefficients are provided. Exact confidence intervals for these parameters are also explored. Numerical comparison of RVT-based estimates to MLE shows that the proposed RVT inference is very promising, in particular, for small sample size.