Reliability and life estimation from component fatigue failures below the go-no-go fatigue life limit

The true reliability and the fatigue life of a connecting link made of low-alloy high-strength steel have been estimated from go-no-go fatigue test. Tests were conducted on a sample size of 130 randomly selected from a population of different heats. Test results were statistically evaluated using binomial, log-normal, and Weibull distributions; the sample reliability was compared with the reliabilities estimated from all three of these distributions. It was observed that for a go-no-go test binomial distribution is preferred for more conservative estimation of the true reliability. The results also show that the life of the link follows a Weibull distribution.