Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index In chemistry, a crucible is a kind of laboratory apparatus that is usually a cup, made of porcelain or an inert metal, used to heat chemical compounds to very high temperatures. One of the earliest uses of platinum was as a material in crucibles, and metals such as nickel and zirconium are used as crucible materials these days. Reference: Metal Technology - a manufacturer of crucibles See also: The Crucible (play) and Crucible Theatre. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.