The cure kinetics of epoxy-novolac compounds were Studied by means of differential scanning calorimetry with a dynamic approach. On the basis of a modified version of our previously reported kinetic model, a procedure aiming at the phenomenological description of the cure kinetics was developed. The reactions were found to be autocatalytic in nature for both commercial epoxy-novolac molding compounds and silica-free imidazole-cured epoxy-novolac systems. The weak extent of autocatalysis in the epoxy-novolac molding compounds was likely due to their high content of silica fillers. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 114: 2373-2377, 2009