The rheokinetics of the curing process of a resol resin was studied through isothermal analysis. The resin was subjected to a curing pretreatment until gelation was reached. Rectangular torsion was chosen as the appropriate strain form to carry out the study of the resin's curing kinetics, because the viscoelastic behavior of the material was closer to an ideal solid than to a Newtonian fluid. Seven operating temperatures were selected for analysis (80-110 degrees C). The Arrhenius and Kiuna rheokinetic models were applied to the resin's complex viscosity (eta*) evolution during the crosslinking of polymer. The resol resin had curing activation energies of 62.6 and 65.8 kJ/mol when the Arrhenius model was applied in four-and six-parameter forms, respectively. The Kiuna model was proposed to fit the nonlinear viscosity region found at the highest temperatures. This model was suitable to predict changes in the resin's complex viscosity, obtaining a curing activation energy of 69.5 kJ/mol for the resin. In addition, the evolution of the degree of mechanical curing was obtained from the elastic modulus, rather than from the more common DSC technique. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 123: 2107-2114, 2012