Inference on Weibull Percentiles From Sudden Death Tests Using Maximum Likelihood

A sudden death test is a special case of a multiply censored life test wherein an equal number of randomly selected surviving items are removed from the test following the occurrence of each failure. Confidence limits for the Weibull-shape parameter and a Weibull percentile may be set with a sudden death sample, using the method of maximum likelihood. An expression is found for the medium ratio of the upper to lower 100 (1 - α) percent confidence limits for a Weibul percentile under either sudden death or conventional type-II censored testing. It is proposed that this ratio be used as a criterion for determining whether a given sudden death test is more precise than a given conventional test.