Estimation of the Burr type III distribution with application in unified hybrid censored sample of fracture toughness

Abstract

In this paper, the statistical inference of the unknown parameters of a Burr Type III (BIII) distribution based on the unified hybrid censored sample is studied. The maximum likelihood estimators of the unknown parameters are obtained using the Expectation–Maximization algorithm. It is observed that the Bayes estimators cannot be obtained in explicit forms, hence Lindley's approximation and the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) technique are used to compute the Bayes estimators. Further the highest posterior density credible intervals of the unknown parameters based on the MCMC samples are provided. The new model selection test is developed in discriminating between two competing models under unified hybrid censoring scheme. Finally, the potentiality of the BIII distribution to analyze the real data is illustrated by using the fracture toughness data of the three different materials namely silicon nitride (Si3N4), Zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) and sialon (Si6−xAlxOxN8−x). It is observed that for the present data sets, the BIII distribution has the better fit than the Weibull distribution which is frequently used in the fracture toughness data analysis.