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

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.