The cure of an epoxy resin system, based upon a diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A (DGEBA) with HY917 (an acid anhydride hardener) and DY073 (an amine-phenol complex that acted as an accelerator), was investigated using a conventional differential scanning calorimeter and a microwave-heated power-compensated calorimeter. Dynamic cure of the epoxy resin using four different heating rates and isothermal cure using four different temperatures were carried out and the degree of cure and reaction rates were compared. The cure kinetics were analyzed using several kinetics models. The results showed different activation energies for conventional and microwave curing and suggested different reaction mechanisms were responsible for curing using the two heating methods. Resins cured using conventional heating showed higher glass transition temperatures than did those cured using microwave heating. (c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.