The modified novolac epoxy resins with furan pendant groups were prepared by novolac epoxy resin and furfuryl alcohol and then crosslinked by bifunctional maleimide via Diels-Alder (DA) chemistry to obtain the thermally reversible and self-healing novolac epoxy resins. The as-prepared crosslinked novolac epoxy resins were characterized by FT-IR, NMR, TGA, and DMA. The results indicate that the novel crosslinked novolac epoxy resins present higher storage modulus (2.37 GPa at 30 degrees C) and excellent thermal stability (348 degrees C at 5% mass loss). Furthermore, the thermal reversible and self-healing properties were studied in detail by DSC, SEM, thermal re-solution, and gel-solution-gel transition experiments. All the results reveal that the crosslinked novolac epoxy resins based on DA reaction can be used as smart material for the practical application of electronic packaging and structural materials. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 42167.