  This work presents the numerical simulation of the melting process of a
particle injected in a plasma jet. The plasma process is nowadays applied to
produce thin coatings on metal mechanical components with the aim of improving
the surface resistance to different phenomena such as corrosion, temperature or
wear. In this work we studied the heat transfer including phase-change of a
bi-layer particle composed of a metallic iron core coated with ceramic alumina,
inside a plasma jet. The model accounted for the environmental conditions along
the particle path. The numerical simulation of this problem was performed via a
temperature-based phase-change finite element formulation. The results obtained
with this methodology satisfactorily described the melting process of the
particle. Particularly, the results of the present work illustrate the phase
change evolution in a bi-layer particle during its motion in the plasma jet.
Moreover, the numerical trends agreed with those previously reported in the
literature and computed with a finite volume enthalpy based formulation.
