Role of interface-affected dislocation motion on the strength of Mg/Nb nanolayered composites inferred by dual-mode confined layer slip crystal plasticity

•A dual-mode confined layer slip model is presented and incorporated into a 3D crystal plasticity finite element model of a two-phase laminate.•The model is applied to simulate both the anisotropic and layer-size dependent plastic response of three types of nanolaminates.•The model indicates that the incoherent HCP/BCC interface poses more resistance to dislocation motion than the BCC/BCC coherent interface.•The BCC Mg pseudomorphic phase contributes more to strength than HCP Mg phase due to the higher slip resistance of the BCC 〈111〉 slip modes compared with the HCP 〈a〉 slip modes.