Shepherd’s Blue Pigments

Shepherd Color’s Fascination with Blue

The color blue and the pigments to make it have been an obsession for humanity for millennia. Shepherd Color’s fascination with blue dates back to our founding, with the adoption of the Shepherd diamond blue logo.

Shepherd Color’s cobalt blue (CI Pigment Blue28) started with the Blue 3 product that was the standard for high-durability coil and extrusion coatings for building products since the 1960s. Our Blue 214 had a redder-shade and has colored plastics for decades. Blue 299, specially engineered for artist color paints, has graced the paint palettes of amateurs and professionals alike. Improvements like Blue 385 and Blue 10C595 improved the tint strength and gloss in coatings systems. Shepherd Color had pushed past our competitors and taken cobalt blues further than anyone else.  But we said, “Hold my lab kiln crucible..”.

First, we partnered with Oregon State University and brought to market the brand new “YinMn Blue” pigment chemistry, also known as Blue 10G513.  This blue is a dark, red-shade in the visible and impressive IR reflectivity, opened up new possibilities in the formulation of cool blue colors for exterior applications.

The second product we brought to market is the groundbreaking Blue 20G599. While the YInMn Blue represented a new pigment chemistry, Blue 20G599 showed that our R&D Department could improve product classes that everyone else thought was mature and couldn’t be improved upon. Blue 10G513, being as brand new pigment chemistry needed new regulatory testing and approvals before it could be commercially available. Blue 20G599, based on current cobalt blue chemistry, pushed the color to new chromatic heights and color space and pushed the edge of the durable color envelope.

YInMn Blue 10G513 and Blue 20G599 complement each other and go where no other blue pigment can go. Blue 10G513 is redder and is more opaque than phthalo or indathrone blue, while having excellent IR reflective properties in a wide range of dark colors. Blue 20G599 combines acid, base, and UV stability with higher chromaticity and redness at any given L* compared to any other blue pigment option. Have you ever looked at shades of ultramarine blue (PBl29) and wished it was more durable? Blue 20G599 fills that need.

When it comes to red-shade blues with unique properties for high durability applications, the ‘Blue Brothers’ of Blue 10G513 and Blue 20G599 are what everyone has been chasing. Request a sample of Shepherd’s blue pigments today!