Three stainless steel milling balls were used, with diameters of 0.5, 0.25, and 0.25 inches and with a combined mass of 10 g. The powders were sealed under Ar in a stainless steel jar and were milled for 1 h in a SPEX 8000D mixer mill under Ar. Next, the powders were dry pressed at 465 MPa into pellets and loaded into a short quartz tube that was placed into a larger tube. During the subsequent vacuum sealing, this tube-in-tube design prevented contact between the heated quartz and V powder, which hardens the tube. Samples were then heated at 10 • C/min to 800 • C where they were held for 72 h before quenching in an ice bath.