FAILURE:

 An incident or occurrence where a component or equipment fails to perform

satisfactorily its intended function.
 Seizure of a bearing, burning of insulation, fracture of a shaft/axle.
DEFECT:
 Any condition in the equipment which is neither intended nor desirable.
 A condition that can cause a failure of the component.
 Lack of lubrication, high voltage, crack in a stressed component
Defect is a cause Failure is its effect

RELIABILITY:
 The ability of an item to perform a required function under stated conditions
for a stated period of time. BS4778
 The probability that a component or system will perform a required function
for a given period of time when used under stated operating conditions -R(t).
 It can only be determined after an elapsed time but can be predicted at any
time.
Maintainability
 The probability that a failed component or system will be restored or
repaired to a specified condition within a period of time when maintenance is
performed in accordance with prescribed procedures -M(t).

Mean Time between Failure (MTBF):

 It is the predicted elapsed time between inherent failures of a system during
operation.
 MTBF can be calculated as the arithmetic mean (average) time
between successive failures of a system.
MTBF = (Total operating hours of all items)/Total number of failures that
occur
Example

If 20 identical items operate for 5, 000 hrs. during which 40 failures occur and
are rectified, Calculate MTBF
MTBF = ((5000× 20)/40) = 2, 500 hrs
 MTBF can also be expressed as the inverse of failure rate, λ as follows:
MTBF = 1/λ
 Once an MTBF is calculated, what is the probability that any one particular
device will be operational at time equal to the MTBF?
R(t) = e(-t/MTBF)
Mean Time to Failure (MTTF):
 It is the average time that elapses until a failure occurs.
 It is the mean time expected until the first failure of a piece of equipment.
 This is used for components or items that are not repairable such as filament
lamps, fuses, resistors, capacitors, etc.
MTTF= T/N where T = total time and N = Number of units under test.
Example:

Suppose 10 devices are tested for 500 hours. During the test 2 failures occur.
The estimate of the MTBF is:
MTBF= (10*500)/2 = 2,500 hours / failure.
Whereas for MTTF
MTTF= (10*500)/10 = 500 hours / failure.

AVAILABILITY:
 It is the probability that the system is operational at any random time t.
 Availability is defined as the probability that a component or system is
performing its required function at a given point in time when used under
stated operating conditions -A(t).
 Availability means that systems or data are accessible but does not guarantee
performance.