A method for the reliability assessment of webbings was developed as a means for predicting lifetimes through an accelerated life test. The accelerated life test was designed at several elevated temperatures using artificial UV light source. In developing the new assessment procedure, statistical distribution of failure time was combined with the Arrhenius model which involves accelerating the chemical reactions at several elevated temperatures and the inverse power model which is used to evaluate the relationship between UV irradiance and lifetime. The proposed method was applied to two domestic products(D1, D2) and a foreign product(F1) to evaluate the reliability standard for domestic webbings. The results showed that domestic products have a shorter lifetime than the foreign product. One of the domestic products(D2) showed a longer lifetime than the other even though both have used the same PET filaments as raw materials and showed similar tensile strength before the accelerated life test. This might be due to the dyeing and finishing processes which could cause the decreases in tensile strength. The results demonstrated that the accelerated test with the reliability analysis could be an effective method for predicting the lifetime of webbings and reducing the testing time.
