Pre-consolidated charges of chopped fiber for composite part fabrication

A method of fabricating a portion of an aircraft, the method comprising:

• reducing a bulk factor of chips comprising chopped fiber while heating, to a temperature between six hundred and eight hundred degrees Fahrenheit, and forming the chips into a pre-consolidated charge;
• separating shaped volumetric charges from the pre-consolidated charge;
• placing a shaped volumetric charge of the shaped volumetric charges into a receptacle within a die, wherein the shaped volumetric charge has a mass equal to the portion of the aircraft;
• melting the shaped volumetric charge within the receptacle and flowing the chopped fiber within the receptacle within the die;
• and
• compression molding the shaped volumetric charge into the portion of the aircraft.

A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying programmed instructions controlling, when executed by a processor, a method for fabricating a composite part, the method comprising:

• reducing a bulk factor of chips comprising chopped fiber while heating, to a temperature between six hundred and eight hundred degrees Fahrenheit, and forming the chips into a pre-consolidated charge;
• separating portions from the pre-consolidated charge;
• placing a portion of the portions into a receptacle within a die, wherein the portion has a mass equal to the composite part;
• melting the portion within the receptacle and flowing the chopped fiber within the receptacle within the die;
• and
• compression molding the portion into the composite part.