Defect Initiation, Growth, and Failure – A General Statistical Model and Data Analyses
Wayne B. Nelson · Birkhäuser Boston eBooks · 2009
This chapter describes a versatile new model for defect initiation and growth leading to specimen failure. This model readily yields (1) the distribution of time to defect initiation and (2) the distribution of time to failure (when a specified defect size is reached). The model can be readily fitted to defect size and failure data from lab tests or actual service, when defect size is observed once for each specimen. This can be done with software for fitting regression models to censored data. The model and fitting methods are illustrated with an application to dendrite growth on circuit boards. The model and data analyses are also suited to non-engineering applications, for example, initiation and growth of tumors.