Finding Paint Testing Laboratories

Q. I am the manager of quality control at my factory where we occasionally have problems with insufficient paint adhesion. Where would I find a lab to perform an in-depth analysis of the adhesion among the interface of our paint, a base coat and primer material? This analysis would include characterization and identification of the surface and interface of our materials, and the lab would need to perform a chemical analysis or use various analytical techniques to generate data supporting the structure and physical characteristics of samples. D.H.

A. There are seven independent paint testing laboratories in the U.S. listed in the Products Finishing Supplier Directory that should be able to measure paint adhesion to the substrate as well as intercoat adhesion. I am very familiar with and have worked with four of these labs in the past, and they did an excellent job.

Go to PFonline.com and click on “Suppliers,” then “Painting” and then “Testing Laboratories, independent, paint finishing.”