Where to Find Powder Suppliers

Question:

Do you by chance have a list of powder suppliers? I am trying to have a color matched and my powder coaters can only get a few colors. I would like to buy the powder myself and take it to them. Any help would be greatly appreciated. M.N.

Answer:

I would not recommend that you buy the powder and bring it to your custom coater. Powder coatings need to be compatible to the process used to apply and cure them. For instance, the type of powder gun charging is important (i.e. corona or tribo) as well as the type of cure oven (i.e. convection or IR) and the available cure time. Selecting a powder coating without this information can be problematic. Plus, if your custom coater is not aware of the specific powder coating's characteristics, it can cause numerous problems at the facility (i.e. sags, film thickness control, etc.). The best solution is to select one or several powder coating types or colors and have your custom coater purchase the material from a supplier it already has a relationship with. This supplier should understand the process specific issues at this custom coater and recommend a coating material that is compatible with this situation. If you want to give him some guidance on which colors a particular supplier has, go to www.pfonline.com (Products Finishing magazine) or www.powdercoating.org (The Powder Coating Institute) for a list of powder formulators.