The Cure properties of self-extinguishing epoxy resin systems with different microencapsulated latent catalysts were investigated, which are composed of YX4000H and NC3000H as a biphenyl epoxy resin, MEH-7800SS as a hardener, and triphenylphosphine (TPP) microencapsulated with various polymers as a latent catalyst. The Cure kinetics of these systems were analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry using an isothermal approach, and the kinetic parameters of all systems were reported in generalized kinetic equations with diffusion effects. Both the epoxy resin systems with microencapsulated latent catalysts showed lower cure conversion rate and higher critical cure reaction conversion than those with T.PP. These different cure conversion rates Could be explained by the decrease of crystallinity of the biphenyl epoxy resin and the activation energy of these epoxy resin systems. The cure conversion rates of the epoxy resin systems with the microencapsulated latent catalyst would be dependent on the activation energy of these systems. The storage stability tests for these systems were performed, and a good shelf-life was observed in both the epoxy resin systems with EPCAT-PAM, a core-shell-type latent catalyst. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 113: 408-417, 2009