Biography
Research
Teaching
Publications
Open Positions
Brief Bio on LinkedIn, ORCID
Following the award of his PhD at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary, Levente Balogh completed postdocs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Queen’s University. He was employed as a Research Scientist at the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories before joining Queen’s faculty in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering as a member of the Arthur B. McDonald Institute.
His group’s research is directed along three main lines:
- Irradiation effects on the performance of structural materials: Irradiation with high-energy particles changes the microstructure of materials which strongly affects their mechanical properties, which can lead to swelling and embrittlement of nuclear reactor components. Research advancing the understanding of radiation damage is crucial for the safe operation of current and the safe design of next-generation nuclear reactors. The accelerator at Queen’s’ Reactor Materials Testing Laboratory (RMTL) is used to bombard materials with high energy protons and the changing microstructure is investigated with X-ray and neutron diffraction, advanced synchrotron characterization techniques (high-energy X-ray diffraction microscopy, micro-tomography) and electron microscopy to better understand radiation-induced damage.
- Astroparticle physics research, dark matter detectors: The proton accelerator at the RMTL can also be used to generate neutron radiation, which in collaboration with NEWS-G and the Arthur B. McDonald Institute, is used for physics research, such as developing methods for testing and calibrating dark matter detector prototypes as well as various other experiments.
- Characterization of advanced materials, additively manufactured metals: Components fabricated with novel techniques, such as Additive Manufacturing, can develop uncommon microstructures which have a strong influence on their mechanical properties and performance. X-ray and neutron diffraction, advanced synchrotron characterization techniques combined with mechanical testing and microscopy methods are used to explore the microstructure - mechanical property relations of these materials.
Areas of Research
- Nuclear materials, characterization of radiation damage
- X-ray and neutron diffraction, Diffraction Line Profile Analysis (peak broadening analysis) (DLPA)
- Advanced synchrotron X-ray techniques: high-energy X-ray diffraction microscopy, micro-tomography
- Microstructure - mechanical property relations of structural materials
- Characterization of Additively Manufactured materials
Courses
MECH851 Materials Characterization (with Prof. Diak and Prof. Yao)
MECH476 Engineering of Polymers and Composite Materials (with Prof. Diak)
MECH202 Mathematical and Computational Tools for Mechanical Engineers I (with Prof. Béland)
MECH203 Mathematical and Computational Tools for Mechanical Engineers II (with Prof. Béland)
List of Publications
Visit to Google Scholar Page
(https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=jwmP0VoAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate)
Current openings as of May 2021 (contact Prof. Balogh for more details about the positions)
- MASc position in Mechanical Engineering/Applied Physics
- MASc position in Materials Science/Engineering
- PhD position in Materials Science/Engineering
I am looking for enthusiastic MASc and PhD students with engineering or physics background, who are interested in one or more of these topics:
- Particle accelerators, design of mechanical components of particle accelerators, irradiation of materials
- Neutron detectors, dark matter detectors
- Materials characterization using X-ray/neutron diffraction, synchrotron X-ray techniques
- Nuclear materials
- Additive Manufacturing (3D printing)
