Hi David,
Polyolefin or teflon tubing are used for professional mountmaking in many
museums.  You can get them though Benchmark at benchmarkcatalog.com under
the "padding" section.  In fact, you might think about looking further into
their catalog, since they specialize in excellent mountmaking supplies, and
they are friendly and helpful to boot.  I think I saw University Products
peddling the polyolefin tubing at a recent conference as well.  Yes, vinyl
is not a good thing to use long-term.  Since it is easy to buy at the local
hardware store, in a pinch I will sometimes use it for a short term exhibit
(a month or so) depending on the vulnerability of the artifacts.  Polyolefin
tubing is heat-shrinkable and you can paint it with acrylic paints to match
the item.  You don't have to heat shrink it and if you do paint it, you
should give it ample time for the paint to cure (two weeks is ideal.)
If you want to test your tubing to see if it is "bad," run some sandpaper
over a piece of copper wire to remove any coating, heat it up with a
lighter, melt some of the tubing onto the wire, and put it back over the
flame.  If the flame turns green, your tubing contains chlorides and is not
suitable.  This is called the "Beilstein test for chlorides."
Good luck!
Ellen Carrlee
Curator of Collections and Exhibits
Juneau-Douglas City Museum
Private Objects Conservator

>-----Original Message-----
>From: David Ryan [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2004 1:02 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Alternative to Tygon Tubing?
>
>
>Dear Colleagues,
>I am looking for an alternative to Tygon tubing.    I have used this
>tubing to pad wire mounts for artifacts for quite some time.  Its
>properties of flexibility, "cushiness" and grip make it ideal for this
>purpose.  However, I have come to find out that it is composed of PVC,
>which is a material to be avoided from a preventive conservation
>standpoint.  Polyethylene and polypropylene tubing exists but
>it is much
>too rigid for this purpose.  Cole-Parmer has suggested vinyl
>or silicone
>tubing as an alternative.  Does anyone know if these are safe
>alternatives?  I thought vinyl was PVC (poly-vinyl chloride).
>Are there
>safe vinyls?  Thanks in advance for any information you might have.
>Sincerely,
>David Ryan
>Registrar
>Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum
>www.cspm.org
>
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