COMMERCIAL CATEGORY · PIGMENTS
Rare & specialty pigments
Pigment supply and sourcing for formulators, coating manufacturers, laboratories and specialist producers — the hard-to-source end of pigment procurement. Scarcity in pigments usually comes from one of three causes: raw-material availability, small production volumes, or regulatory restriction. Each has different commercial consequences, and we state which applies per material.
Materials in this family
YInMn Blue
Yttrium indium manganese oxide. Inorganic, thermally stable, high NIR reflectance.
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Interference pigments
Thin-film coated platelets producing angle-dependent colour travel.
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Natural ultramarine
Lazurite-based pigment from lapis lazuli; scarce and labour-intensive to prepare.
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Mineral greens
Malachite and related copper carbonate greens for conservation work.
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NIR-reflective inorganics
Complex inorganic colour pigments selected for solar-reflectance performance.
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High-absorbance blacks
Carbon and structured black materials used in low-reflectance systems.
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How to specify a pigment enquiry
A pigment is not fully specified by its colour. For a formulator the decisive properties are usually particle size distribution, oil or resin demand, opacity, dispersion behaviour in the intended binder, lightfastness and thermal stability. Two pigments of the same nominal shade can behave very differently in the same system.
Tell us the binder system you are working in — waterborne, solvent-borne, powder, or a resin you name — and the processing temperature. That narrows candidate materials faster than a colour reference alone, and it avoids sampling a pigment that cannot survive your process.
Where we supply a pigment, technical values come from the manufacturer’s data sheet for the batch delivered. We do not publish generic figures for particle size, lightfastness or heat stability on this page, because those values are product-specific and would be misleading.
What to send with a pigment enquiry
A pigment enquiry that carries these six things can usually be investigated the same week. One that carries only a colour name cannot.
1 · The material, as precisely as you can name it
A chemical description, a Colour Index name, a manufacturer’s product code, or a competitor’s data sheet. Any of these is worth more than a colour name, because most colour names cover several chemistries.
2 · The binder system and processing temperature
Waterborne, solvent-borne, powder, plastic, ink or a resin you name, and the highest temperature the pigment will see. This decides which candidates survive your process.
3 · Quantity in kilograms, and whether it repeats
A trial kilogram and an annual tonne are different commercial problems with different routes. Say which one you are describing, and whether a repeat order is likely.
4 · The properties that actually matter
Opacity, tinting strength, lightfastness, heat stability, NIR reflectance, particle size or dispersion behaviour. Naming the two or three that decide acceptance lets us rule material in or out quickly.
5 · Regulatory and documentation requirements
Whether the material must be REACH-registered for your volume, whether heavy-metal or food-contact restrictions apply, and which documents have to travel with the goods.
6 · Destination and timing
Delivery country and the date the material is needed on site. Scarce pigments are often made in campaigns, so lead time is frequently the binding constraint rather than price.
How a pigment enquiry is handled
1 · We identify what you are actually asking for
Colour names travel badly between industries, and the material index lists what we quote and source by family and effect. We translate the request into a chemistry and a set of properties, and come back if the description could mean more than one material.
2 · We investigate the commercial route
Who makes it, in what form, against what minimum order, and whether the quantity you need is a stocked item or a production campaign. Where a material is restricted or proprietary, we say so rather than quoting around it.
3 · You get a quote with its conditions attached
Price against a stated quantity and packaging, the lead time, the documentation included, and the delivery terms. Technical values come from the manufacturer’s data sheet for the batch delivered.
4 · Sampling before commitment where it is offered
Where a manufacturer offers a trial quantity we quote it separately. For a pigment going into a formulation you intend to sell, testing in your own system is the only result that counts.
Frequent questions
Do you sell pigments from stock?
No. BADAR is a sourcing and trading business, not a warehouse. Every enquiry is investigated against current manufacturer and distributor availability, and what is obtainable, in what format and against what minimum is confirmed before we quote.
What is the minimum order for a rare pigment?
It is set by the manufacturer and the route, not by us, and it varies enormously — from a laboratory jar to a full production batch. Send the quantity you actually need and we will tell you what the nearest obtainable order size is.
Can you supply a sample before we commit?
Where the manufacturer offers a trial or sample quantity, yes, quoted separately. Some scarce materials are not sampled at all, and we say so at the enquiry stage rather than after an order.
Will I get a safety data sheet and technical data sheet?
Yes. Both come from the manufacturer for the material supplied. Tell us at enquiry if they must be in a particular language or must accompany the goods rather than follow by email.
Can you match a pigment we already buy?
Send the data sheet, the product code or the supplier’s name and we will investigate equivalents. A like-for-like replacement is not always possible, and where the closest available material differs in a way that matters to your formulation we will say which property changed.
Which pigments are restricted in the EU?
Several historically common pigments are restricted or authorisation-controlled, and the detail depends on the substance, the use and the volume. We check the current position for the specific material and tell you what it means commercially, but we are not a regulatory consultancy and the obligations for your use remain yours.