Laboratory Platen Presses
LabPro Series Presses
The LabPro series from Fontijne Presses represents a fully customizable, state-of-the-art platform of hydraulic laboratory presses engineered for the most demanding applications. Renowned for exceptional pressing consistency and process stability, LabPro systems are widely deployed in advanced R&D environments and rigorous quality control workflows.
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Fully Customizable Platen Press to Meet Your Application
The platform is particularly suited for specialized sample preparation where standard configurations are insufficient and application-specific customization is required. From a performance perspective, the LabPro can be engineered to deliver closing forces of up to 5000 kN, accommodating highly demanding material processing requirements. Importantly, the system maintains the same level of precision and consistency even at lower force ranges, ensuring versatility across a wide spectrum of applications.
LabPro Series Presses
Product Features
ProView Touchscreen Control System
The LabPro series is equipped with the ProView control system, featuring a 15-inch touchscreen that enables precise control of temperature and pressing force. The large display provides clear visibility of process parameters and real-time cycle progress, allowing users to monitor and adjust conditions with confidence. An integrated automatic venting (degassing) function further enhances process control by periodically opening and closing the press at predefined intervals to release trapped gases during pressing cycles.
Recipe Builder for Consistent Results
The LabPro series is highly automated and designed for efficient workflow management. Its intuitive interface includes a preset builder that allows users to create, store, and recall up to 999 process recipes, ensuring repeatability and streamlined operation across multiple applications.
Advanced Configuration Options
The LabPro platform offers an extensive range of configurable options, enabling precise alignment with complex material processing requirements. Among these is a highly effective vacuum system, allowing operation at elevated temperatures under controlled low-pressure conditions.
Safety-First Construction
Operator safety is a core design consideration. The CE-certified LabPro series incorporates comprehensive safety features, including a fixed upper platen, emergency stop functionality, and a protective safety shield, ensuring safe and reliable operation in high-performance laboratory settings.
High Temperature Capabilities (Up to 700 °C)
The LabPro can be configured to reach temperatures up to 700 °C, significantly expanding the range of processable materials, including high-performance polymers, advanced composites, and specialty materials. An optional fast-heating system enables ramp rates up to 20 °C/min, reducing cycle times, reaching 180 °C in approximately 8 minutes or 400 °C in around 19 minutes. For applications requiring superior thermal uniformity, an oil-heated platen system is available, delivering more homogeneous temperature distribution compared to conventional electrically heated platens.
Automated Active cooling Platform
An automated water-cooling system, controlled via electric valves, enables rapid cooling of the press platens between cycles. This allows quick transition to processes requiring lower temperature setpoints and improves overall productivity. The cooling system can also be configured to comply with ASTM D4703, achieving controlled cooling rates of up to 15 °C/min when required.
Vacuum System
The integrated vacuum system, housed within the support table, enables the press chamber to reach pressures of approximately 30 – 40 mbar. This allows processing in oxygen-free environments or under inert gases such as nitrogen or argon, even at temperatures up to 700 °C. Vacuum parameters can be fully programmed and controlled through the ProView system, ensuring repeatable and precise operation. After completion of a cycle, the chamber can be rapidly vented to ambient conditions.
Cassette Cooling System
For applications requiring extremely rapid cooling, the cassette cooling system provides a highly efficient solution. It consists of water-cooled platens that can be inserted horizontally between the heated platens, either manually or via motorized movement. The system can also operate in conjunction with vertical platen motion to enable cooling under pressure. With cooling rates of up to 250 °C per minute, it significantly reduces cycle times. Additionally, continuous heating of the primary platens and continuous cooling of the cassette platens minimizes energy consumption compared to conventional heat–cool cycles, improving both efficiency and productivity.
Floating Upper Platen for Low-Force Applications
A secondary pneumatic system enables a floating upper platen configuration, allowing near-weightless closure for ultra-low force applications (0 – 10 kN). For higher force requirements, the standard hydraulic system is automatically engaged, ensuring seamless transition across a wide force range.
Customized Daylight and Platen Configurations
Both platen size and daylight (the distance between upper and lower platens) can be customized to meet specific application requirements. Additional daylights can be incorporated to enable simultaneous processing of multiple samples within a single cycle. Each daylight can be independently controlled for heating and cooling, offering enhanced flexibility and throughput.
Custom Platen Materials
Optional platens in steel, aluminum, or copper allow tailoring of thermal conductivity and temperature distribution profiles to specific applications. For processes requiring high surface pressures, specialized or hardened platen materials can also be implemented.
Additional Customization Options
A variety of supplementary features can be integrated to further enhance system functionality and usability, including hardened glass viewing windows, internal lighting, electrical feedthroughs, and multi-daylight configurations. All modifications are implemented in full compliance with CE regulations, ensuring maximum safety.
These configuration options make the LabPro series a highly adaptable platform capable of meeting the most demanding and specialized laboratory processing requirements.