Closed loop feedback press

A manufacturing system for compressing an article formed from two or more materials, the system comprising:

• a hot press, comprising:
• a frame;
• a top platen positionally adjustable to the frame by an actuator, wherein the top platen has a top platen contacting surface formed from a silicon-based composition that has an uncompressed thickness from 2 mm to 8 mm;
• a top platen heating element, the top platen heating element associated with the top platen;
• a load cell, the load cell coupled with at least one of the actuator, the top platen, and the frame, wherein the load cell is configured to measure a force applied by the actuator through the top platen;
• and
• a bottom platen maintained by the frame, wherein the bottom platen has a bottom platen contacting surface formed from a second material, and wherein the bottom platen has a plurality of heating elements providing a differential temperature of the bottom platen contacting surface with a zonal control;
• a cold press, comprising:
• a cold press frame;
• a cold press top platen positionally adjustable to the cold press frame by a cold press actuator, wherein the cold press top platen has a cold press top platen contacting surface formed from a third material;
• and
• a cold press bottom platen maintained by the cold press frame, wherein the cold press bottom platen has a cold press bottom platen contacting surface formed from a fourth material;
• and
• a controller having a processor and memory and logically coupled to the hot press and the cold press, the controller configured to adjust an amount of force applied by the actuator through the top platen based on a signal from the load cell.