French Oil and TMP Exhibit at CAMX 2026 in Atlanta

French has been building hydraulic press systems for composite applications for decades, from single-station laboratory presses used in materials development through multi-opening production systems. Four areas we expect to spend the most time on.

Composite Molding and Curing Presses

French composite presses are engineered around the part, the material, and the cure cycle rather than adapted from a standard model. Designs range from 20 to 2,000+ tons in sideplate, column, C-frame, and H-frame constructions, up-acting or down-acting, in single or multi-opening configurations.

Compression molding, resin transfer molding, thermoplastic composite forming, and autoclave-alternative out-of-autoclave processing each place different demands on platen parallelism, heating uniformity, and pressure control. Those requirements drive the design.

UNI-TEMP Heated Platens and Temperature Uniformity

Cure quality depends on what the part actually sees, not what the setpoint says. UNI-TEMP heated platens use two-phase heat transfer to move energy across the platen face, holding temperature within +/-3 degrees C through both heating and cooling phases.

The practical consequence is control simplicity. UNI-TEMP distributes heat rapidly and evenly enough that a single standard temperature controller runs the entire system. No multi-zone control package, no array of thermocouples to install, calibrate, and troubleshoot. That reduces installed cost and removes a common source of drift.

UNI-TEMP is available on new French presses, as a retrofit to existing presses, and as UNI-TEMP thermal management bars integrated directly into tooling for improved core heating. If you are fighting uneven cure, edge-to-center variation, or long soak times, this is the conversation to have at the booth.

Aerospace, Defense, and Structural Applications

Aerospace and defense composite work carries documentation and repeatability requirements most industrial molding does not. French recently built a 300-ton downacting sideplate press for critical composite aerospace components, configured with an integrated RTM package and precision control motion package. French control systems track platen position, force, temperature, and cycle timing in real time, with data logging that supports process validation and traceability.

High-temperature heating packages are available to 1200 degrees F, and Vision Series hydraulic vacuum presses in 30 to 150 ton models draw full vacuum in two minutes or less to pull entrapped air, moisture, and process volatiles out of the layup.

Laboratory and R&D Presses

Materials development does not scale cleanly from a benchtop. French laboratory presses are built with the same platen parallelism, heating control, and data logging as production systems, so process parameters developed on a lab press transfer to production without a second round of qualification.