Curing kinetics of a bisphenol-A glycidol ether epoxy resin (DGEBA)/2-ethyl-4-methylimidazole (EMI-2,4)/nano-sized SiC(nano-SiC) system was investigated with two kinetic methods by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Methods I and II were deduced by assuming a constant E and a variable E, respectively. With method I, the cure reaction activation energy E, the frequency factor A and the overall order of reaction m + n are calculated to be 71.75 kJ mol(-1), e(20.55) and 2.20, respectively. These results were used to have a simple qualitative comparison with the DGEBA/EMI-2,4 system. With method II, E is proved to decrease initially, and then increase as the cure reaction proceeds. The value of E spans from 42.4 to 95.8 kJ mol(-1). Furthermore, the variations of E were also used to study the cure reaction mechanism, and the shrinking core model was used to study the resin-particle reaction. Methods I and II are effective as long as they are used in proper aspects. With these two methods used all together, we can have a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the curing kinetics of the DGEBA/EMI-2,4/nano-SiC system and the effect of nano-SiC particles on the curing kinetics of the DGEBA/EMI-2,4 system. (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd.