‘Happy accident’ leads to new blue discovery
Usage will include paint coatings, plastics and roofing materials
Move over, Rose Quartz and Serenity: There’s a new kind of blue that’s moving on your Pantone colour of the year territory.
This brilliant blue colour called YInMn blue — named after the elements yttrium, indium and manganese — was first discovered around 2009.
Oregon State University scientists wound up mixing manganese oxide — which is black in colour — with other chemicals and heated them in a furnace to approximately 1,093 C. The samples they saw turned out as this vivid blue pigment.
“It was serendipity, actually; a happy, accidental discovery,” lead chemist Mas Subramanian said in a statement.
Upon first glance, according to Today Style, YlnMn blue does resemble the look of cobalt blue: “The pigment forms in such a way that red and green wavelengths are absorbed, and light reflects back only blue. It’s super-durable and stable and does not fade,” the NBC-owned online site explains.
“Also, because of this unique structure, it can be used on buildings and roofs to keep them cool by reflecting infrared light.”
Subramanian added that none of the pigment’s ingredients are considered toxic.
The university has reached an exclusive licensing agreement with the Ohio-based Shepherd Color Company.
Geoffrey T. Peake, the company’s research and development manager, says commercial quantities of YlnMn blue will be made available later this year.
It will likely appear in various paint coatings and plastics, and potentially roofing materials.
The pigment forms in such a way that red and green wavelengths are absorbed, and light reflects back only blue. It’s super-durable and stable and does not fade.