Title: Step-stress accelerated test

Authors: Ming-Wei Lu, Jeffrey E Leiman, Richard J. Rudy, Yung-Li Lee

Addresses: DaimlerChrysler Corporation, 800 Chrysler Drive, Auburn Hills, MI 48326, USA. ' DaimlerChrysler Corporation, 800 Chrysler Drive, Auburn Hills, MI 48326, USA. ' DaimlerChrysler Corporation, 800 Chrysler Drive, Auburn Hills, MI 48326, USA. ' DaimlerChrysler Corporation, 800 Chrysler Drive, Auburn Hills, MI 48326, USA

Abstract: Most products are designed to operate for a long period of time, and in such cases, life testing is a relatively lengthy procedure. Lengthy tests tend to be expensive and the result becomes available too late to be of much use. To reduce the experimental cost significantly and provide an efficient tool to assess the life distribution for highly reliable products, the Step-stress accelerated test (SSAT) was developed. An example of a rear suspension aft lateral link is used to validate the SSAT method.

Keywords: median rank; reliability; step-stress accelerated test; SSAT; Weibull distribution; product life testing; vehicle suspension; rear suspension; product life distribution; reliable products.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMPT.2006.008284

International Journal of Materials and Product Technology, 2006 Vol.25 No.1/2/3, pp.231 - 239

Published online: 28 Nov 2005 *

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