Organic coatings are widely used in ship structure for corrosion protection and IMO PSPC
Guideline has recently been issued to achieve high anti-corrosion properties. Currently, solvent
borne epoxy paints are generally used in ship coating, especially water ballast tank (WBT) and the
emission of volatile organic compound (VOC) materials such as hydrocarbon solvents is inevitable.
Evaporation of solvent was known as pollutant material and resulting in hazard to health of spray
worker. Therefore, the current trend is toward the application of lower VOC coating material,
especially solvent free coating containing solvent less than 5% or water borne paint for
environmental and human protection. Additionally, multi-coating system of ship coating including 2-
main coating and 2-strip coating was also raised as one of reason for air pollution.
In present study, the performances of commercially used solvent free epoxy paint with 1-main
coating and 1-stripe coating has been evaluated comparing with those of commercially used
solvent-borne paint with 2-main coating and 2-strip coating in terms of anti-corrosion, build-up
properties, crack resistance and contents of volatile organic compound. From the results, it would
be clearly indicated that solvent free epoxy coating showed equivalent or higher anti corrosion and
build up performances than solvent borne epoxy.
Keyword: Solvent free paint, IMO PSPC, Cyclic test, VOC