Glass Science Lab Test Tubes

Lab Grade Glass Test Tubes

Heat Resistant for Labs

Chemically Resistant for People

Food & Dishwasher Safe Borosilicate Glass Test Tubes

Glass test tubes for science, kitchenware, crafts, gifts, wedding decorations or product display. Our tubes are thick-walled borosilicate glass that are food safe. All come with round bottoms and are machine washable. Thick reinforced rims & optional tall tapered corks ensure airtight stoppering or make convenient hanging plant propagation stations. Indigo test tubes are completely blank top to bottom for custom branding.

Buy just a few of one or more sizes to try out your cool idea & then get them in bulk with 50% off wholesale pricing. Save even more with our cork stopper bundles.

Science Lab Glassware-Test Tubes

Glass test tubes, like graduated cylinders, Erlenmeyer & volumetric flasks, are common pieces of biology and chemistry laboratory testing equipment. Our lab quality test tubes are made with borosilicate glass, ideal for its resistance to high temperature & chemical inertness.

Applications range from growing tissue and bacterial cultures to root cuttings, measuring pH or observing chemical reactions. They come as small, medium or large capacity tubes suitable for mixing, heating or even product packaging and display. All Indigo glass test tubes come with beaded rims for spill-free pouring and repeated safe stoppering. Our larger thick-walled 25, 32 & 38 tubes will tolerate prolonged boiling.

Every tube is completely blank for custom imprinting your brand or marketing message. Buy just one to test your project idea & then save up to 50% on bulk buys & tube/stopper bundles.

Test Tube Wall Thickness

Being made of borosilicate glass is not a guarantee of quality of itself. Uniform test tube wall thickness is essential for safety, durability & repeated use, maximum heat transfer and chemical resistance. The average wall thickness of Indigo Instruments borosilicate glass test tubes are listed below for outside diameters (OD) of our tubes. Borosilicate glass culture tubes on the other hand are made with thin walls in order to be inexpensive & should be considered disposable test tubes.

13mm 18mm 25mm 32mm 38mm
1.04 1.32 1.4 1.48 1.73


Note (1): We do not carry graduated test tubes with beaded rims; the closest thing we have to offer are graduated cylinders.
Note (2): We cannot guarantee our test tubes will fit your test tube rack. If this could be an issue, contact us first.

Indigo Instruments Tapered Cork Heights

Besides wall thickness, our test tubes have reinforced rims for repeated safe stoppering. Our cork stoppers are produced in Portugal using sustainable growth practices. They are a truly natural product with excellent mechanical properties (see blog below in More Info). More importantly, these stoppers are produced according to the highest cleanliness standards backed by this certificate of cleanliness & cleaning procedures.

Cork Stopper Test Tube Fitting

The top row in the table below lists the nominal outside diameter of our test tubes. The bottom row is the average height of the tapered cork stoppers that fit them. There is some variance in test tube internal diameter to allow for corks to fit anywhere from 1/3 to 2/3 of their height. Since cork is compressible across its diameter, these thicknesses help ensure airtight seals no matter what the ID variance is.

13mm 18mm 25mm 32mm 38mm
17.5mm (0.69") 22mm (0.87") 32mm (1.25") 32mm (1.25") 38mm (1.5")

Glass Test Tube Applications

Indigo test tubes meet all the necessary specifications for use in chemistry labs. Specifically, resistance to most chemicals and thermal shock. This also makes them particularly useful in product packaging & display. Here are just a few of the uses our customers have found for our tubes. Not shown are bath salts, candy sprinkles, tea, cannabis, and wine. All tubes come with reinforced rims except where noted otherwise.

Displaying 1 to 22 (of 22 products)
13x100mm Culture Tubes

13x100mm Culture Tubes

SKU: 55903
13mm Rimless Tubes+Corks

13mm Rimless Tubes+Corks

SKU: 55903-CS1200
13x100mm Plain Rimmed Glass Test Tubes

13x100mm Plain Rimmed Glass Test Tubes

SKU: 55903R
100 13x100mm Test Tubes+Tapered Cork Stoppers

100 13x100mm Test Tubes+Tapered Cork Stoppers

SKU: 55903R-CS100
100 13x100mm Test Tubes+Tapered Rubber Bungs

100 13x100mm Test Tubes+Tapered Rubber Bungs

SKU: 55903R-RS100
Chemistry Science Lab Test Tubes 18x150mm

Chemistry Science Lab Test Tubes 18x150mm

SKU: 55907R
100 Chemistry Lab Test Tubes+Tapered Corks

100 Chemistry Lab Test Tubes+Tapered Corks

SKU: 55907R-CS100
100 Chemistry Lab Test Tubes+Rubber Bungs

100 Chemistry Lab Test Tubes+Rubber Bungs

SKU: 55907R-RS100
Test Tube Flower Vases 25x100mm (1x4")

Test Tube Flower Vases 25x100mm (1x4")

SKU: 55908R
100 25x100mm Test Tubes + Tapered Corks

100 25x100mm Test Tubes + Tapered Corks

SKU: 55908R-CS100
100 25x100mm Tubes + Rubber Stoppers

100 25x100mm Tubes + Rubber Stoppers

SKU: 55908R-RS100
25 x 150mm Glass Test Tubes (1x6")

25 x 150mm Glass Test Tubes (1x6")

SKU: 55909R
Wholesale Bulk Test Tubes-Cork Tops

Wholesale Bulk Test Tubes-Cork Tops

SKU: 55909R-CS100
100 25x150mm Tubes, Stoppers

100 25x150mm Tubes, Stoppers

SKU: 55909R-RS100
Bulk 25mm Glass Test Tubes  (1x8")

Bulk 25mm Glass Test Tubes (1x8")

SKU: 55910R
Bulk Big Test Tubes Wholesale Combo

Bulk Big Test Tubes Wholesale Combo

SKU: 55910R-CS100
100 25x200mm Tubes, Stoppers

100 25x200mm Tubes, Stoppers

SKU: 55910R-RS100
Large Test Tubes 32x200mm/1.25x8"

Large Test Tubes 32x200mm/1.25x8"

SKU: 55911R
Large Glass Test Tubes With Cork-Bulk

Large Glass Test Tubes With Cork-Bulk

SKU: 55911R-CS50
50 32x200mm Tubes, Stoppers

50 32x200mm Tubes, Stoppers

SKU: 55911R-RS50
Jumbo Glass Test Tubes 38x200mm

Jumbo Glass Test Tubes 38x200mm

SKU: 55912R
Jumbo Glass Tubes+Cork Wholesale

Jumbo Glass Tubes+Cork Wholesale

SKU: 55912R-CS50
More Information

What Our Customers Say About Us...

...in Reviews on Google Places. Some are excerpts. Read the whole review by clicking on the names of the reviewers.

Deshana Barua: I brought some glass tubes to display my propagations and replace a broken one. Their prices are very reasonable (it’s impossible to buy just a single piece from online retailers like Amazon, which I’d rather not support anyway) and they processed my order and shipped very quickly. They arrived well-packaged with no broken glass and appear to be well-made.

Holly Christensen Ordered 15 test tubes. Very well packaged, quick delivery times, high quality test tubes that feel great. Thanks for the great service!

Anna Hovius I was pleased with the response that I got at Indigo Instruments - very helpful, very courteous and polite. I really appreciated the way you handled my very small purchase - like it was a... more

Lindsay McLennan Great service! I forgot to order the corks with my tubes and they had them shipped out that day and arrived at my door within 4 days! WOW! Great company to deal with. Happy to have found them before the Christmas Season arrives, as we are making these adorable Reindeer hot chocolate gifts. Thank you!

Lisa Harpster We love Indigo Instruments! They are super responsive, fair pricing, flexible and they are total problem solvers.

Some Blogs on Test Tubes & Corks

Technical

Borosilicate Glass Physical Properties

Borosilicate glass, sometimes referred to as "pyrex" is standard in lab glassware. It's resistant to thermal shock and is food safe because it is completely LEAD FREE compared to glass used in cut crystal, etc.!

See the tables below for physical characteristics. The first row lists the coefficient of linear thermal which is the best indicator for resistance to thermal shock . It is roughly1/3 of soda lime glass, the type most commonly used in food & drink.

Borosilicate Glass Properties - Physical Data
Physical Performance Numerical Value Unit
Coefficient of mean linear expansion (20°C; 300°C) 3.3 ± 0.1 10-6K-1
Transformation Temperature 525 ± 15 °C
Softening Point 820 ± 10 °C
Working Point 1260 ±20 °C
Density at 20°C 2.23 ± 0.02 g/cm3
Mean Thermal Conductivity (20°C-100°C) 1.2 w/rn2k
Refractive Index 0.92 1
Instructions/Safety

No Glassware Returns

If you are unsure what glassware is best for your needs please contact us before ordering.

Glassware cannot be returned for any reason; this is for your safety and ours. It would be prohibitively expensive to test for bacteriological, chemical or radiological agents since there is no way to tell if glass has been contaminated just by looking at it. We would have to throw it away even if you claim to never have opened the package.

However, if the item is broken or clearly defective such as severely or chipped, send us an image & we will refund you.

Safety Disclaimer-Warning

Handle glassware with care & personal protective equipment (PPE) - goggles & gloves because:

  1. Unless you poured it yourself, assume any liquid is hazardous.
  2. Hot & cold glass looks the same & does not have to be red to cause burns. Unless it was in the freezer, assume it is hot.
  3. Borosilicate glass will withstand a fair degree of thermal shock but unless your intent is to see if you can make it crack, don't toss recently heated glass into a cold water bath.
  4. When borosilicate glass breaks, it makes sharp edges like any other kind of glass. Dispose of pieces carefully.
  5. See blog: Glass Test Tubes with Cork-Chemistry Kitchenware which includes a video on how to safely stopper test tubes.