Magnesium alloys are desirable for structural applications due to their low density and high specific strength and stiffness; however, poor formability and mechanical property anisotropy arising from a strong crystallographic texture prevent their widespread use. Previous research has shown that alloying magnesium with rare earth metals can weaken the texture but a more widely applicable solution is desired. Intermetallic particles are desired due to their texture weakening effect during deformation and Zener pinning during recrystallization. Magnesium has been alloyed with concentrations of zinc above the solubility limit and the distribution of intermetallic particles was modified through thermomechanical processing. These differing volume fractions were then characterized through an image segmentation algorithm which processed backscattered electron images. This algorithm succeeded in quantifying volume fraction in these different samples allowing for comparison of the effects of heat treatments on magnesium zinc alloys. This characterization will be applied to the understanding of particle effects on the texture of magnesium zinc alloys during thermomechanical processing.