To provide a thermosensitive material for a protection element of high quality, whose yield is improved by eliminating the disadvantage in a method for manufacturing a bar-shaped ingot, which uses a conventional cooling mold, to suppress precipitation of intermetallic compounds in the thermosensitive material or to uniformly and finely disperse the precipitates.

A molten-metal material is melted which comprises a base material containing, as a principal element, Bi or In, which is a hard-to-work metal, and at least one element selected from the group of Ag, Al, Cu, Ge, Mg, P, Sn, Ti, and Zn, which are additives of fine metals for adjusting characteristics. An ingot having a unidirectionally solidified structure is prepared, which is made by making the molten material pass through a mold that is heated to a temperature equal to or higher than the primary crystallization temperature of the molten material, and by rapidly cooling and solidifying the molten material with a cooling means set in the outlet side of the mold. A circuit protection element is produced by using a thermosensitive material 43, which is obtained by molding the above ingot into a predetermined shape.