Afully pearlitic steel was deformed by high-pressure torsionuptovery high strains, and the changes in the microstructure were determined by analytic and conventional transmission electron microscopy.The imposedstrain leads to afragmentation and an alignment of the cementite lamellae parallel to the shear plane. The electron energy-loss near-edge-fine structureso ft he Fe-L 2,3 -edge of the iron matrix and the cementite lamellae were measured with high spatial resolution. The results indicated that after high-pressuretorsion, the iron matrixcontains finely dispersed carbon-rich areas that do not showt he electronic fingerprint of cementite. However,t he refinement in microstructure leads to an enormous increase in mechanical strength.

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