Electron tomography provides a direct link between the Payne effect and the inter-particle spacing of rubber composites.

Rubber-filler composites are a key component in the manufacture of tyres. The filler provides mechanical reinforcement and additional wear resistance to the rubber, but it in turn introduces non-linear mechanical behaviour to the material which most likely arises from interactions between the filler particles, mediated by the rubber matrix. While various studies have been made on the bulk mechanical properties and of the filler network structure (both imaging and by simulations), there presently does not exist any work directly linking filler particle spacing and mechanical properties.