Positronium yields in amorphous, cross-linked and conductive polystyrene

Variations in positronium yields due to positron irradiation of specimens during experiment were investigated on the three commercially available modifications of polystyrene (Goodfellow): amorphous, cross-linked and conductive. Positron lifetime technique was employed. The variations of the positronium yields were expressed as changes of the ortho-positronium intensity as functions of the irradiation time. It was found that the positronium yield curves obtained for the amorphous and cross-linked polystyrene cannot be represented as a simple single-exponential relaxation towards a steady state and at least one additional component or a modified shape of the relaxation curve should be considered.