AbstractThe performance and effectiveness of an age replacement policy can be assessed by its mean time to failure (MTTF) function. We develop shock model theory in different scenarios for classes of life distributions based on the MTTF function where the probabilities $\bar{P}_k$ of surviving the first k shocks are assumed to have discrete DMTTF, IMTTF and IDMTTF properties. The cumulative damage model of A-Hameed and Proschan [1] is studied in this context and analogous results are established. Weak convergence and moment convergence issues within the IDMTTF class of life distributions are explored. The preservation of the IDMTTF property under some basic reliability operations is also investigated. Finally we show that the intersection of IDMRL and IDMTTF classes contains the BFR family and establish results outlining the positions of various non-monotonic ageing classes in the hierarchy.