Running flux growth experiments means putting your container through prolonged exposure to corrosive molten salts at high temperatures. If the crucible fails or reacts with the melt, it contaminates the crystal and the run is lost. I work on identifying and testing crucible materials that hold up under those conditions, drawing on both materials selection principles and hands-on testing. This project is essentially an engineering problem nested inside a research problem, and it's pushed me to think carefully about material compatibility, failure modes, and practical constraints, skills that translate directly to process engineering and materials qualification work.