The effects of the concentration of triphenylphosphine as a catalyst on the
cure reaction of the biphenyl epoxy/phenol novolac resin system were studi
ed. The kinetic study was carried out by means of the analysis of isotherma
l experiments using a differential scanning calorimeter. All kinetic parame
ters including the reaction orders, activation energy and kinetic rate cons
tants were evaluated. To describe the cure reaction with the catalyst conce
ntration, the normalized kinetic model was developed. The suggested kinetic
model with a diffusion term was successfully able to describe and predict
the cure reaction of epoxy resin compositions as functions of the catalyst
content and temperature. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.