Mean Time Between Failure

(M-T-B-F)

The statistical mean time a component is expected to work without failing. (Keep in mind this is an overall population measure and says nothing about an individual component.)

A related term is Mean Time To Recovery (MTTR) which is the statistical mean time a component will take to recover from a non-fatal failure (e.g., self-resetting circuit breaker). In a broader sense, MTTR might also apply to an organization (e.g., a computer center will be back up within 12 hours of being notified of failure).

More Information

• MTBF FAQ
• Another MTBF FAQ