A Super Wear-Resistant Coating for Mg Alloys Achieved by Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation and Discontinuous Deposition

•A novel super wear-resistant coating for mg alloys was achieved via the new strategy of discontinuous deposition.•The wear resistance was exceptionally 5500 times superior to the base PEO coating.•The wear resistance was surprisingly 20 times superior to conventional continuous deposition.•The inducements of rolling friction, nano lubrication and the mixed wear of soft matrix and hard point result in the super wear resistance.