Is Vacuum oxygen decarberization the equivalent of Argon oxygen decarb?

[chadmc]

I'm looking at a customer material spec that says,"The steel melt shall be refined with AOD or equivalent." The material we want buy is refined with VOD. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[EdStainless]

What is the material?
What is the spec?
In general, yes they are considered equivalent processes.
But the results can be slightly different so a few more questions need to be asked.

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P.E. Metallurgy