Process for making a powder for bonding to a substrate

A process for making a powder for bonding to a substrate, the method comprising the steps of:

• combining a copolymer and mono- or di-valent metal ions to form a mixture, wherein the copolymer has from about 70 to about 98 wt % of an alpha-olefin moiety and about 2 to about 30 wt % of a (meth)acrylate moiety, each based on a total weight of the copolymer;
• reactively extruding the mixture to react the metal ions with the copolymer in the melt phase of the extrusion process to form in situ a neutralized copolymer having a melt flow index of from about 5 to about 1500 g/10 min, wherein the mixture is a dry mixture during extrusion, wherein during extrusion about 2 to about 50 wt % of the (meth)acrylate moiety is neutralized to form a mono- or di-valent metal salt present in an amount of from about 0.2 to about 20% based on the total (meth)acrylic acid content of the copolymer;
• and
• grinding the neutralized copolymer to form the powder such that a temperature of grinding does not exceed a melting point of the neutralized copolymer,
• wherein the process is free of utilizing a liquid.