My father was a metallurgical engineer though unfortunately passed away when I started high school. Recently after reading a story on melting iridium in an e-be

My father was a metallurgical engineer though unfortunately passed away when I started high school. Recently after reading a story on melting iridium in an e-beam furnace I am now finding myself fascinated by metallurgy. One thing that interested me is the seemingly simple yet complex process of vacuum metallurgy where alloying and/or purifying is done in a vacuum using all sorts of exotic heating and handling methods.