Certified Maintenance and Reliability Technician (CMRT) Practice Test 2025 - Free CMRT Practice Questions and Study Guide

The term that describes events that cause an asset to fail is known as a failure mode. This concept refers to the specific ways in which a failure can occur, detailing the underlying mechanisms or conditions that lead to the degradation or loss of function of an asset. Identifying failure modes is crucial in maintenance and reliability engineering as it helps organizations to understand potential vulnerabilities in their systems and to develop strategies to mitigate the risks associated.

On the other hand, failure analysis is the process of examining an asset after a failure has occurred to determine the root cause, which is a separate but related concept. A fault log records the occurrences of faults within an asset, often used for tracking and managing issues over time rather than describing the causes themselves. Failure rate refers to the frequency of failures in a given time period or unit of operation, which provides insight into reliability but does not specifically identify the events causing failure. Understanding these distinctions is essential for effectively managing asset reliability and performance.