Why does the nanocrucible delete half your materials

[GARGATHUGANOKSREVENG]

I see your point, but consider that the resulting alloy is possibly denser than its two ingredients (more stuf, same volume).
Although you have 2 bars of material, combining the two gives you 1 bar of a material with the same mass as both material's masses combined, but in a smaller volume than both material's volumes combined.

Of course, this is isn't really a thing ingame due to the resulting alloy having its own density stat.
If the density was really the combination of that of both materials, the nano crucible would just be an incredibly strong material compressor, resulting in very very high density materials. (Example: 1 steel bar + 1 steel bar would have mostly the same stats as normal steel, but the density of both combined)

yeah but we get all the downside of compressing 2 bars into one with none of the upside (higher density)