The matrix polymer of reactive hot-melt adhesive (RHMA) is an isocyanate-terminated urethane pre-polymer based on oligoester or oligoether diols and diisocyanates. In this study, we explored wet cure kinetics with both isothermal and nonisothermal differential scanning calorimetry methods. Second-order autocatalytic models were successfully used to evaluate the cure process of both oligoester- and oligoether-based RHMAs. The autocatalyzation effect did not to depend on the structure of diols but on the reaction nature of the end isocyanates. The apparent energy of the overall cure reaction was 86.54 and 84.46 kJ/mol, respectively, which was based on nonisothermal DSC results. (C) 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.