Phenolic impregnated carbon ablator (PICA), which is composed of the phenolic resin (PR) and carbon fiber, is of particular interest to researchers in the aerospace field. In this work, PICA was prepared by the double-stage isothermal heating curing. Then, the curing kinetics of boron-modified phenolic resin (BPR) was investigated by non-isothermal differential scanning calorimetry method in order to optimize the curing temperature of BPR. Further, the effect of the heating rate during curing process on the compressive strength of PICA was discussed in detail. The experimental data show that the curing of BPR needs more energy so that the curing temperature of BPR under different condition is higher than that of virgin PR. Notably, with the increasing heating rate during the curing process, the micro-cracks increase and the compressive strength of PICA decreases. Once the heating rate exceeds a critical value, the micro-cracks no longer increase and the heating rate has insignificant effect on the compressive strength.