It can be a flat metal (or earlier, wooden) plate pressed against a medium (such as paper) to cause an impression in letterpress printing.
In office copiers and scanners, the platen is a flat glass surface on which operators place papers or books for scanning.
This allows the garment to effectively become a rigid immobile substrate, especially important when printing multiple colors or utilizing an on-press infrared dryer.
[4] In manufacturing, a platen is a flat plate of a press utilized in laminate, plastic and forest product industries.
A platen is typically heated with oil, water, steam or electricity and is used in the production of furniture, tires, gaskets, particle board, composite heaters and plywood.