The cracking behavior of epoxy coatings applied to ship ballast tanks are affected by the coating
elongation and the strain induced by external structural stresses and thermal stresses. In this study, the
principal factors controlling the coating intrinsic elongation were investigated. The principal factors were
found to be the molecular weight of resin and amide type curing agent. These result in a low crosslink
density resin with increase in the mobility and flexibility. The elongation of coatings was found to be
affected by the type and particle size of pigments. It was also found that more solvent content in the
coatings lead to greater internal stress and might reduce the elongation to break of the coatings.
Key words: coating crack, ballast tank of COT, epoxy coating, flexibility, internal stress, thermal stress,
structural stress, pigments, resin structure