Commercially known as Blue 10G513, this pigment has been approved for use in industrial coatings and plastics since September 2017.
We are excited to announce that YInMn has been approved for artist color materials in the United States.
After significant testing by the R&D team at The Shepherd Color Company, YInMn was found to have an unusually high NIR reflectance, perfect for use in engineering plastic and high-performance coating applications. The pigment was licensed to Shepherd Color in 2015. YInMn was approved for limited commercial use in 2017, and for artist use in Europe in 2017 and most recently the U.S. in 2020.
Customers found several unique characteristics with YInMn:
Professor Mas Subramanian of Oregon State University, discoverer of YInMn blue.
2009 OSU Graduate student, Andrew Smith, assisted in the discovery of YInMn Blue.
*PLEASE READ BEFORE REQUESTING A SAMPLE: Shepherd Color will not provide samples to individuals, only industrial companies with the correct PPE equipment.
I’m an artist, how can I purchase paint?
Please contact one of the companies below by visiting their website. They are listed by area/country, but some may take international orders.
United States
Golden: https://www.goldenpaints.com/ or 800-959-6543
Since 1980 Golden Artist Colors has produced thousands of custom products to meet the individual needs of our creative customers. They are now offering Acrylic, Oil and Watercolor paints made with YInMn Blue pigment – the first new inorganic blue pigment in over 200 years – through the GOLDEN custom lab. If you are interested in ordering YInMn Blue paints from Golden, please visit us here or call the number above.
If you’d like to see the Golden Custom Lab in action, click here to see a video showing the process of making paint with YInMn blue.
Australia
Derivan Pty Ltd: https://www.matisse.com.au/yin-min-blue-structure
St. Luke Artist Colourmen, 32 Smith Street, Collingwood, Victoria. 3066: https://stlukeart.com/colour/pigment/standard-pigment/
Europe
Kremer Pigmente: https://www.kremer-pigmente.com/de/yinmn-blue-45320.html
Japan
Holbein: https://www.holbein.co.jp/
Kusakabe: http://www.kusakabe-enogu.co.jp/english/
Why is it called YInMn Blue?
The pigment is based on an oxide made of Yttrium(Y), Indium (In) and Manganese (Mn).
The YInMn name is just shorthand for that. It is also fairly easy to say ‘Yin-min’ Blue.
Is YInMn Blue a new color?
A color is the interaction of a light source (like the sun or a light bulb), an object (and it’s absorbing and scattering of light by wavelength), and the observer (the person). When someone looks at a plastic chip made with YInMn Blue outdoors, you could have another plastic chip next to it made with different pigments that would look perceptibly to most people to be the same. So in that way, YInMn isn’t a new ‘color’. It is a new color in that it is a new chemical composition that by itself has that unique color as compared to other color pigments. Chemists took elements (Yttrium, Indium, Manganese and Oxygen) and reacted them in specific ways in specific ratios to make the bright blue known as YInMn Blue.
While color matching in the first instance happens everyday all over, including at your local paint store, a new pigment chemistry that makes a useful color is something rather rare. Only a few brand new and unique commercial pigments are discovered every 10-20 years. Besides the color, YInMn Blue also has other properties like high-opacity and n-IR reflectance that give it further benefits than just its beautiful color.
Is YInMn available to artists in dry pigment form?
Shepherd Color can only sell dry pigment powder to industrial, commercial companies with the correct PPE and handling equipment as laid out in the SDS. Commercial use only is a stipulation of the EPA’s listing the material on the TSCA inventory. As such, we can’t provide individuals with dry YInMn pigment.
Is YInMn Blue available as a paint?
YInMn Blue is a dry powder pigment that must be dispersed in a paint, coating, plastic or other binder material. Many paints and coatings manufacturers are interested in the pigment and we will be bringing paints to the market after commercialization.
What approvals does YInMn Blue have for use in artist materials?
YInMn Blue was tested at the Duke University’s Division of Occupational & Environmental Medicine and found:
