1 Estimation and Optimum Constant-Stress Partially Accelerated Life Test Plans for Pareto Distribution of the Second Kind with Type-I Censoring By

This paper considers the case of Constant-Stress Partially Accelerated Life Testing (CSPALT) when two stress levels are involved under type-I censoring. The lifetimes of test items are assumed to follow a two-parameter Pareto lifetime distribution. Maximum Likelihood (ML) method is used to estimate the parameters of CSPALT model. Confidence intervals for the model parameters are constructed. Optimum CSPALT plans, that determine the best choice of the proportion of test units allocated to each stress, are developed. Such optimum test plans minimize the Generalized Asymptotic Variance (GAV) of the ML estimators of the model parameters. For illustration, numerical examples are presented. 1