Planar heating element

Claim 1

A planar heating element comprising a thin flat body formed from an insulating thermoplastic resin and electrically conductive powder wherein the electrically conductive powder is formed in a layer within the thermoplastic resin in the neighborhood of the entire surface of the body and lead wires within said body, said lead wires being positioned near the surface of the body such that the lead wires are electrically connected to said layer of electrically conductive powder; said planar heating element being produced by a method comprising uniformly melt-admixing and insulating thermoplastic resin with an electrically conductive powder wherein said electrically conductive powder is present in an amount less than 40% by weight of the thermoplastic resin, extruding the melted mixture to form said planar heating element, applying wires lengthwise into the extruded body, stretching or drafting the extruded body in the softening state and immediately continuously rapidly cooling the extruded body at a temperature of less than 20° C. whereby said electrically conductive powder is in a higher concentration near the surface of the element.