Robust inference for an interval-monitored step-stress experiment with competing risks for failure with an application to capacitor data

Accelerated life-tests (ALTs) are applied for inferring lifetime characteristics of highly reliable products. In some cases, due to cost or product nature constraints, continuous monitoring of devices is infeasible and so the units are inspected at particular inspection time points, resulting in interval-censored responses. Furthermore, when a test unit fails, there is often more than one competing risk. In this paper, we assume that all …