Pure elemental powders were stoichiometrically ground in an agate mortar and pestle and mixed uniformly with acetone (typical loadings in TABLE ). After the acetone evaporated, the resulting mixture was pressed into a 10 mm diameter pellet and placed in an alumina boat. The alumina boat was then introduced into a Lindberg Blue tube furnace capable of reaching 1000℃. A titanium rod was positioned upstream in the furnace to act as an oxygen getter at high temperatures, thereby further protecting the sample from oxidation. Throughout the entire heating process, a constant, slow flow of argon was maintained to create an inert atmosphere for the duration of the heating cycle. The thermal treatment followed the profile: an initial 6-hour room temperature purge to eliminate adsorbed water and oxygen, heating to 1000℃ at a rate of 5℃/min, a 24-hour hold at 1000℃, and finally, cooling back to room temperature at a rate of 5℃/min. The pellet was placed in an Edmund Bühler GmbH MAM 1 arc melter along with a zirconium slug as an oxygen getter at high temperatures to further protect the sample from oxidation. The chamber was purged and refilled with argon to ambient pressure, and this process was repeated three times. First, the zirconium slug was arced, the melting flame would then be placed onto the unreacted pellet where the flame would go in circular motions around the pellet to uniformly heat the sample. The pellet would be removed from the arc melter and flipped. The sample would then be flipped additional times until the pellet melted into an ingot. The sample was then hit with a stainless-steel high-impact mortar and pestle to break the sample into smaller pieces. The pieces were then transferred to a synthetic sapphire mortar and pestle where the HEB was ground into a fine powder with acetone.