Continuous to 120 °C, wound for 12-220 V, built to IEC 60335 / UL 94 V-0 / RoHS. Set the outline, the voltage and the wattage on the drawing below and it redraws to them.
Printed Carbon Film Heaters are continuous to 120 °C, wound for 12-220 V, watt density 0.1 W/cm² in free air and 0.5 W/cm² bonded to a heat sink, about 0.2 mm thick. The outline is cut to your drawing, up to 500 x 1500 mm in one piece. It does not limit its own temperature: a thermostat, a thermal cutoff or a control loop with an independent over-temperature channel belongs in the design.
Continuous temperature
to 120 °C
Supply voltage
12-220 V
Watt density
0.1 W/cm² free air / 0.5 W/cm² bonded
Thickness
0.2 mm
Maximum one-piece size
500 x 1500 mm
These are the process limits for this construction, not the rating of a finished part. The ratings of your heater come from the drawing it is built to, and the watt density it can carry depends on what it is bonded to.
Outline & Specification Builder
Set the outline, the size, the voltage and the power you have in mind. The drawing
redraws to match, and the panel works out the heated area, the watt density and the current — then checks
that watt density against what this construction survives in free air and bonded to a heat sink. Those two
limits are different by several times, and it is the difference that decides whether a heater lasts.
Fills in the form below; attach your outline drawing or DXF there.
Request a Quotation for Printed Carbon Film Heaters
The form below follows the current technical drawing configuration. Change the drawing values above and the request details update automatically.
Every row below is a starting point for the customizer above — pick any size and the drawing will redraw to that row.
Parameter
Specification
Limit / note
Construction
Carbon-loaded ink screen printed on PET film, silver bus bars, laminated
Decided at quotation from the outline and the wattage
Insulation system
PET polyester film, 0.05 mm to 0.125 mm per face
This is what sets the temperature limit, not the element
Total thickness
0.2 mm
Nominal, before adhesive; add 0.2 mm for PSA backing
Minimum size
20 x 20 mm
Below this the element cannot be routed with a safe edge margin
Maximum size, one piece
500 x 1500 mm
Larger areas are supplied as tiled zones with separate circuits
Dimensional tolerance
u00b11 mm on the die-cut outline
On the die-cut outline; hole positions are held tighter
Supply voltage
12 V, 24 V, 48 V, 110 V, 220 V
Wound to the ordered voltage u2014 it is not a switchable range
Resistance tolerance
u00b110% standard, u00b15% on request
Measured at 20 u00b0C; hot resistance differs with the element alloy
Watt density, free air
0.1 W/cmu00b2 typical
Nothing conducting heat away u2014 the honest figure for an unbonded heater
Watt density, bonded to heat sink
0.5 W/cmu00b2 maximum
Only valid with full-area contact to metal; specifying at this figure and running in free air destroys the heater
Continuous working temperature
-40 u00b0C to +120 u00b0C continuous
Of the heater itself, measured at the element, not the ambient
Dielectric strength
1500 V AC, 1 minute
One minute, element to any exposed surface, no breakdown
Insulation resistance
greater than 100 Mu03a9
At 500 V DC, measured after the dielectric test
Lead wire
Crimped or soldered leads, or a printed silver bus bar with a bonded tail
Length, gauge and termination to your drawing
Attachment
PSA backing standard; laminated into the end product at high volume
Adhesive-backed heaters need continuous contact pressure while curing
Sensor and control options
NTC 10K B3950 bonded to the film, or a printed PTC ink track
Fitted under the same insulation and tested as one assembly
Certifications available
IEC/EN 60335, UL 94 V-0, RoHS, REACH, CE, IATF 16949
Constructions are built to these; the certificate covers the construction, not every outline
Cost
Roll-to-roll printing u2014 the cheapest heater per square metre at volume
The saving is real above a few thousand pieces and disappears below a few hundred
Positive temperature coefficient
Carbon ink resistance rises slightly with temperature
A mild self-limiting effect, not a substitute for a thermostat
Printed Carbon Film Heaters are made to order rather than supplied from a size list, because the outline is whatever the surface being heated requires. What is fixed is the construction: pet film heaters, with the limits set out in the capability table below and the reasoning behind each of them underneath it.
What Are Printed Carbon Film Heaters?
Printed Carbon Film Heaters are pet film heaters. They are specified by supply voltage and outline together with the outline drawing, the wattage or the temperature to be held, and what the heater is bonded to — that last one decides the permissible watt density and is the question a quotation cannot skip. The construction is built and tested to IEC 60335 / UL 94 V-0 / RoHS.
Construction & Insulation System
Carbon or silver ink is screen printed onto PET polyester film, laminated and die cut, roll to roll. It is by a wide margin the cheapest heater per square metre at volume. The limit is the film: PET softens above about 130 °C and its dielectric strength goes with it, so this construction belongs only where the maximum credible temperature — including the fault case where the control fails on — stays well below that. Carbon ink holds about ±15% on resistance; where that is not good enough, the same outline is printed in silver or etched in copper.
Watt Density
In free air, with nothing conducting heat away from it, this construction carries 0.1 W/cm². Bonded over its full area to metal that carries the heat off, it carries 0.5 W/cm². The second figure is not an upgrade of the first — it is a different operating condition, and a heater ordered at 0.5 W/cm² and then run unbonded fails within minutes. Divide the wattage you need by the area you have before anything else: if the answer is above the free-air figure, either the area grows or the heater gets bonded down.
Typical Applications
Seat cushions and backrests, mirror and display demisting, battery pre-heating, pet and personal warming, heated insoles and garment blanks — high volume, large area, low watt density, and always well below 120 °C.
Specifying the Printed Carbon Film Heaters
The supplies this construction is most often wound for are 48 V DC, 110-120 V AC and 220-240 V AC. Each has its own page, with the resistance and current the wattage works out to at that voltage and what that means for the leads.
The insulation system, not the element, decides how hot this can run and whether it can be bent at all: PET Polyester Film. Each page states the continuous ceiling that material sets, the dielectric withstand it gives, and what choosing it costs in flexibility or in thickness.
The duty temperature is the figure that rules constructions out rather than ranking them, so it is worth settling early: Up to 80 °C and 80 °C to 120 °C. Each page states what survives that band continuously, and what the margin between the surface temperature and the insulation limit needs to be.
This construction is built and tested to CE Marking and IATF 16949 — worth checking against the standard your own end product is certified under, because a part built to one scope does not automatically satisfy another. For the equipment and duties this construction is actually specified for, see where printed carbon film heaters are used.
Inside the plant
Manufactured in our own plant
This heater is laid out, wound or etched, laminated, cut, tested and imaged in-house. The stages below are where its resistance tolerance, its temperature uniformity and its insulation integrity are actually decided.
01
Circuit design & layout
The customer outline comes in as a drawing or a DXF, and the element is laid out inside it: conductor gauge from the voltage, path length from the resistance, pitch from the watt density wanted at each part of the surface. Where the load needs more heat at the edges than in the middle, that is decided here, in the geometry, not later with more power.
Calculated resistance and watt density checked against the construction limits before any tooling is cut.
02
Element preparation
Wire-wound elements are wound on a glass carrier at the calculated pitch; etched-foil circuits are photo-imaged and etched from Inconel or copper foil to a trace width held within 0.05 mm. That tolerance is what makes the resistance repeatable from lot to lot, which is what makes the temperature repeatable.
Trace width and element resistance measured before lamination — a circuit out of tolerance is scrapped here, not after it is sealed inside the part.
03
Lamination & vulcanising
The element and its sensor are laid between the insulation and pressed under heat: silicone is vulcanised, polyimide and PET are laminated with a high temperature adhesive, epoxy plates are potted under vacuum so no voids are left anywhere in the heat path. A void is not a cosmetic defect — it is a place the heat cannot leave from, and it becomes the hot spot that ends the part.
Press temperature, pressure and dwell recorded per lot; potted plates checked for voids.
04
Die cutting & leads
The outline is die cut with radiused corners — a die does not cut an inside corner, and a sharp corner in a film is where a tear starts. Leads are crimped or soldered and strain relieved at the exit, and connectors are fitted to the harness drawing so the assembly line never has to solder.
Outline to ±0.5 mm on film, ±1.5 mm on silicone; lead pull-out tested per lot.
Video: Printed Carbon Film Heaters
Third-party video, selected automatically for this topic. It is not produced by Heating Film and is not a specification source — use the tables on this page for dimensional data.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a standard size range for Printed Carbon Film Heaters?
There is no size list. Printed Carbon Film Heaters are cut to your outline, so the size is whatever your drawing says, up to 500 x 1500 mm. Larger areas are built as separate zones with their own circuits. Send a dimensioned drawing or a DXF and the quotation comes back against that outline.
How many watts per square centimetre do Printed Carbon Film Heaters handle?
Two figures, and they are not interchangeable. In free air, with nothing conducting heat away, 0.1 W/cm². Bonded over its full area to metal that carries the heat off, 0.5 W/cm². A heater ordered at the second figure and then run in the first condition fails within minutes, so the quotation asks what the heater is bonded to before it asks anything else.
How hot can Printed Carbon Film Heaters run?
120 °C continuously. That limit belongs to the insulation system — PET Polyester Film — not to the element, which would tolerate a good deal more. It is a hard ceiling: above it the insulation degrades, and no derating scheme buys headroom. Past 120 °C the construction has to change rather than be pushed.
What protects Printed Carbon Film Heaters from overheating?
Nothing in the heater itself — a heater is a resistor and has no opinion about temperature. The protection is a separate part of the design, and on this construction it is normally a bimetal thermostat or a one-shot thermal cutoff fitted inside the insulation, in series with the element. It can be built into the heater at manufacture, which is both cheaper and more reliable than adding it to the assembly afterwards, and it is a different component from the sensor that closes the control loop: the case the cutoff exists for is the loop failing on.
How are Printed Carbon Film Heaters fitted?
They are bonded with a factory-applied pressure sensitive adhesive to a degreased, smooth surface, rolled on from one edge so no air is trapped; an air pocket under a bonded heater is a hot spot and it is permanent.
What voltages are Printed Carbon Film Heaters available in?
12 V DC, 24 V DC, 48 V DC, 110-120 V AC and 220-240 V AC. The element is wound for the voltage ordered — it is not a switchable range, and running a heater at a voltage other than the one it was wound for changes its power by the square of the ratio. Resistance is held to u00b11 mm on the die-cut outline.
What is the dielectric strength of Printed Carbon Film Heaters?
1500 V AC, 1 minute, with insulation resistance above 100 MΩ at 500 V DC measured after the dielectric test. Both are tested on every unit rather than on a sample, because a heater that fails this test in service fails it into whatever it is bonded to.
How do I get a quotation?
Set the outline, size, voltage and power in the builder on this page and send that configuration through, or attach a drawing. The quotation needs six things: the outline, the supply voltage, the power or the temperature you need to hold, what the heater is bonded to, the ambient it works in, and the quantity. With those, a quotation comes back within one business day.
Need a heater quoted?Message our engineers on WhatsApp — send an outline drawing and the supply voltage and get pricing back fast.Start WhatsApp Chat →
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