film a and a transparent photoinsensitive protective layer b containing at least one polymer having a melting point tm of u2267 50 u00b0 c and a glass transition temperature tg of u2266 0 u00b0 c application_number US 33479699 A description the element for application to an image bearing surface comprises a strippable support film and at least one protective layer including at least one polymer having a melting point tm of at least about 50 u00b0 c and a glass transition temperature tg of at most about 0 u00b0 c mixtures of polymers having the above characteristics may also be used in the non photosensitive protective layer in a preferred embodiment the protective layer is transparent and non photosensitive the protective element of this invention may be applied to many types of image bearing surfaces some examples of image bearing surfaces include cromalin u00ae proofs easyprint u00ae proofs etc the protective layer can be prepared by known methods for this purpose they can be coated on suitable supports from currently available solvents preferably organic solvents such as for example methylene chloride toluene methanol mixtures or other mixtures of aromatic solvents and alcohols esters or ketones and subsequently dried the thickness of the protective layer is usually about 1 20 u03bcm preferably about 3 15 u03bcm and particularly preferred at about 5 10 u03bcm a composite of two or more layers is also possible for this protective element two or more layers having the above specified thermoplastic polymers can be applied on the support successively or simultaneously by known methods the layers of such multilayer protective elements can have the same or different compositions single layer elements are preferred useful polymers have a melting point tm of at least about 50.