Feasibility of density and viscosity measurements under ammonothermal conditions

With an eye on numerical simulations of ammonothermal growth of group III-V bulk single crystals, precise data for viscosity and density are strongly needed. In this work, changes in viscosity depending on temperature and pressure are traced in the developed ball viscometer. There, the falling time is detected by acquiring the acoustic signal of the ball using a high temperature borne-noise acceleration sensor. The results for the viscosity of pure ammonia at ammonothermal conditions already show good accuracy. The apparatus is designed to measure the density in addition to the viscosity, by the substitution of the rolling ball material in later experiments. This is important because the density of the flowing fluid is not constant due to the solubility change of GaN in ammonia by the mineralizers obligatory in ammonothermal process.