“…In superalloys, the TCP µ-phase causes depletion of the γ-matrix in the solution strengthening refractory metal elements (Pessah et al, 1992;Simonetti and Caron, 1998;Sims et al, 1987;Yang et al, 2006). Dislocation pile-ups at intermetallic precipitates have been reported to cause microcracking or decohesion, embrittlement and eventually crack initiation (Chen et al, 1980;Cheng et al, 2011;Pessah et al, 1992;Qin et al, 2009;Simonetti and Caron, 1998;Tawancy, 1996;Zhao and Dong, 2012). Further, TCP phase precipitates at grain boundaries are thought to cause high stress concentrations (Pyczak et al, 2000;Sugui et al, 2010;Zhao and Dong, 2012) resulting from the high hardness of the µ-phase compared with the surrounding matrix but also the precipitates' shape and orientation relationship to the matrix.…”