The name given to the sheet of muscle that helps move air in and out of the lungs is the diaphragm. The diaphragm can be found just beneath the lungs, and it serves as the major muscle of respiration. This muscle is a bit large and dome shape-like that contrasts involuntarily continually and rhythmically.
When you inhale, you will notice that your chest cavity enlarges. This is due to the fact that the diaphragm flattens and contracts. A vacuum is created as a result of this contraction that pulls air into your lungs. On the other way round, when you exhale, your chest cavity is compressed.
This happens because the diaphragm relaxes, and then returns to the domelike shape which it took before. The diaphragm separates the thoracic cavity from the abdominal cavity. This makes the center of the diaphragm move downward (caudally), and the edges move upward (cranially).